By Chris Williams: Okay, we all know already about how former cruiserweight champion David Haye got a title shot against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko by basically taunting Wladimir into giving him a shot at his two title belts without having to work his way into the position the way that normal heavyweights are forced to.

My question is now that Haye has pretty much lost his shot at Wladimir due to Haye’s recent back injury, can Haye actually work his way into a title shot by beating two or three top 10 heavyweights and become Wladimir’s number #1 mandatory challenger for either his IBF or WBO belts?

Since Wladimir already has Alexander Povetkin as his IBF mandatory challenger and will have the WBO mandatory determined next month with the Alexander Dimitrenko vs. Eddie Chambers bout taking place, it means that Haye is going to have to do some waiting for awhile to get his shot.

But that doesn’t meant that Haye can just sit around and become the number #1 mandatory by fighting journeyman or worse than journeyman, D level heavyweights that no one on earth has ever heard of. If Haye wants to become Wladimir’s mandatory challenger and not just receive a title shot by talking mess in the media, he’s going to need to fight someone like Chris Arreola or Samuel Peter to get a shot.

Neither of those fighters are unbeatable but they are tough enough to beat up opponents with weak chins and little experience at heavyweight like the 28-year-old Haye. I could name a lot of other heavyweights that Haye should probably be looking to fight in the top 10 besides Peter and Arreola, but these two will do for the likes of Haye.

With his popularity, it probably won’t take more than a couple of wins for him to become Wladimir’s mandatory challenger, and he won’t have to fight a series of tough opponents like some heavyweights do. So, we put Haye in there with Samuel Peter and look to see if Haye has the talent to make it out of the fight in one piece.

I like to think that Peter would be in great shape for a fight with Haye, but I kind of doubt it. Peter would likely come in at a high 250, possibly 260 with a generous amount of fat around his midsection. The added weight would no doubt slow Peter down, but not until the later rounds.

I think Peter would be a problem for Haye even if he’s 20 pounds overweight for the fight because of Peter’s pressure. Haye isn’t tall like Vitali or a defensive expert like Eddie Chambers, so it would come down to whoever is the tougher fighter.

In Haye’s fight with 5’9” cruiserweight Giacobbe Fragomeni in November 2006, Haye was constantly pressured by the shorter and slower Fragomeni for nine rounds and struggled badly against the Italian until stopping him in the 9th.

By no means is Fragomeni near as powerful as Peter nor is he as good a pressure fighter as Peter, yet he was able to give Haye all kinds of problems with his pressure. I think Peter would be a nightmare for Haye and would have a great chance of destroying Haye by the 7th or 8th rounds.

The same applies for Arreola, although in his case I think it might be much faster because of his big 6’4” frame.

Whatever the case, these are two examples of fighters that Haye should have to fight if he’s interested in fighting Wladimir in the future. Haye got a free pass initially but his injury erased the free pass and he should now have to work his way into a title shot instead of just having one given to him on a silver platter because of his mouth.