By Eric Thomas: British heavyweight Matt Skelton (22-2, 19 KOs) is making noises that he’d be interested in a fight with fellow UK heavyweight David Haye (22-1, 20 KOs) as soon as David gets through with fighting one of the Klitschko brothers. In an interview on the Sunday Mirror, Skelton remarked that Haye is “Lucky” and is “getting all the breaks,” no doubt referring to Haye’s potential bouts with both Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko.
Skelton, 41, the Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight champion, came up short in his title challenge against WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev in January, losing a lopsided 12-round decision. Aside from that, Skelton has focused most of his seven year professional boxing career on fighting on the local level.
Because of that, he’s missed out on fighting for the bigger alphabet titles that are highly sought after by most boxers at the pro levels. No matter what the outcome of Haye-Klitschko, it’s doubtful that Haye would be interested in accepting a bout with Skelton, who will be turning 42 on January 23rd.
Haye seems to be on the fast track with his career and is looking to fight the biggest stars in the heavyweight division before getting out of the sport by his 30th birthday. A fight with Skelton, though perhaps entertaining, wouldn’t seem to be serving Haye’s purpose and would be seen by some as a big step backwards.
I personally think Skelton, if he could make it beyond the first three or four rounds, would potentially give Haye a lot of trouble with his power. But like I said, I doubt that Haye would want to step in the ring with him and give him a chance. Haye, 28, is looking to fight both of the Klitschko brothers back to back, but that may actually be out of his hands should he lose badly to one of them.
It’s doubtful that either of them would be still interested in fighting him if he loses to the first Klitschko brother he fights. For this reason, Haye is in a do or die position whether he knows this or not. He can’t afford to lose badly to them because in being defeated badly, Haye would be less relevant as a fighter and would be in the rebuilding stage.
He tends not to take the easy fights, although his fight with Monte Barrett was an eye opener in terms of him taking the easy path, and it’s highly doubtful he would consider coming back to England to fight a 42-year-old Skelton. The fight might sell well, but nothing like a fight against someone like the Klitschko brothers or the seven-foot Nikolay Valuev. Those are the big money fights that Haye will be moving to.
Skelton has a fight with ‘Prizefighter’ Heavyweight Martin Rogan on February 28th. Rogan, pretty much a club fighter, surprised many people by defeating Audley Harrison by a close 10-round on December 6th. This isn’t going to be an easy fight because Rogan is a high pressure fighter and has a good punch despite his advanced age of 37.
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