By William Mackay: Now that David Haye’s aching back has finally healed up, he’s ready to go forward against his next opponent which at his time appears to be World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko for later on this year. The fight will likely be taking place in Germany in one of the huge stadiums.
Vitali, 37, is open to fighting elsewhere, even in England. However, a fight between Haye and Vitali probably won’t be able to draw enough fans in England to make it worthwhile for Vitali. Haye, 28, doesn’t really care which Klitschko brother he fights, just as long as it’s one of the two. Haye, who says that he’s on a mission to clean up the heavyweight division of the dull fighters and the slobs, has a lot of work to do if he wants to beat a fighter as good as Vitali.
This is a lot different fighter compared to the other opponents that Haye has fought in his career. Haye has done well against cruiserweights where he was considered big for the division with his 6’3” height. However, for a heavyweight, Haye is actually on the small side and will have to depend more on using his wits and hand speed to avoid getting clubbed into submission by the much taller and heavier Vitali.
Haye will have an advantage of youth against Vitali, who will be turning 38 on July 19th. Since he doesn’t have the power, size or chin to compete with Vitali, Haye will have to be selective in the punches he lands to make sure that Vitali doesn’t clock him coming in or on the way out. If Haye makes the mistake of standing right in front of Vitali, then it probably will be a very quick fight for the big Ukrainian.
For convenience sake, let’s assume that Haye can get by Vitali Klitschko. This would mean that Haye would have to take on Vitali’s brother, Wladimir kitschko next. Depending on how well Wladimir’s chin holds up, this could be a very tough fight for Haye to come up with a good strategy to win. Wladimir is a lot faster than Vitali and doesn’t like to trade big shots as his older brother.
Wladimir won’t be taking any chances, especially if Haye beats his brother. It’s safe to say that Wladimir will focus on fighting on the outside and will try to avoid mixing it up with Haye as much as possible. Haye will be getting hit with jabs and will have to try and stun Wladimir with one of his leaping hooks or big right hands.
It’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that Haye can beat both Wladimir and Vitali, but it will be a long shot for sure. Depending on how the contract is written up, Haye might have to fight Vitali or Wladimir twice. However, if Haye is good enough to beat them once, I don’t see it as a problem for him to beat them a second time.
Once the Klitschko brothers are effectively out of the way, Haye would have to deal with Chris Arreola, fighters like Kevin Johnson or Odlanier Solis next. None of those fights would be an easy thing for Haye. David has already been stopped by Solis in the amateur ranks in 2001, and the Cuban appeared to have Haye’s number in that fight.
Unless Haye’s chin has improved in the past eight years, he will have problems with Solis. Arreola is vulnerable because of his chin. However, he has a lot of size and has a lot of heart to go with it. He got up off the deck to stop Travis Walker in 2008, and he’s got power along the same lines as the Klitschko brothers. This would be a fight in which Haye would have to box carefully to avoid Arreola’s huge shots. If Arreola connects with anything big, Haye would be out for the fight.
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