By Chris Williams: I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade about David Haye, but after seeing the new heavyweight Commonwealth (British Empire) champion Martin Rogan (12-0, 6 KOs) dismantle the normally iron-chinned Matt Skelton last weekend, I’d have to say that Rogan would wipe the deck with Haye and stop him well inside the distance.
Rogan showed incredible heart as he rallied in the 11th to knock Skelton down, and then moments later take him out with a blizzard of power shots. I admit freely that Rogan doesn’t have the speed or the technical skills of a fighter in the class of Haye. However, what he does have is a great chin, incredible heart and the endurance to keep throwing one power shot after another for a full 12 rounds.
That, I’m afraid, Haye falls well short of. Though I doubt Haye would ever fight Rogan, because Haye will likely be trying to pick up the pieces of his career after his potential fight against Wladimir Klitschko in June, this is a fight that Haye should be going after rather than a proven quality fighter like Klitschko.
The problem with Rogan, though, is that he’s probably much too dangerous for Haye and for that reason he’d be excluded when David was looking for potential heavyweight opponents. Rogan, a young 37, has now beaten former Olympic Gold medalist Audley Harrison and Skelton, arguably two of Britain’s best heavyweights.
Clearly, Harrison and Skelton are on the downside of their careers, but you can’t take away from the fact that Rogan did what he had to do to beat them. Instead of taking the easy path like Haye, fighting Monte Barrett and Tomasz Bonin, Rogan has opted to take on the better fighters in the UK.
After his performance on Saturday, Rogan has quickly picked up a legion of new fans and is now considered to be one of the most exciting heavyweights in all of boxing. His style of fighting reminds me of a prime Lamon Brewster, only with much more action and not the standard lulls that you’d see in fights with Brewster.
I think Rogan is easily good enough to beat Haye at this point.
Though I think Rogan would have problems with Haye in the opening three to four rounds due to Haye’s tendency to drift around on the outside and mostly pot shot. However, Rogan has proven to be excellent at cutting off the ring and forcing his opponents to fight at close range.
With Rogan pinned to his chest, Haye would be out of his element and unable to land his big windup power shots like he normally does. Instead of getting off his own shots, Haye would find himself getting nailed with short uppercuts, left and right hands to the head for as long as the fight lasts.
I’d like to think that Haye could stand up to Rogan’s punishment for a full 12 rounds, but I seriously doubt it. Rogan hits too hard, lands too many punches and puts too much pressure for someone as fragile-chinned as Haye to stand up to for long.
Prediction: Rogan by 8th round TKO.
Comments are closed.