By Chris Williams: British heavyweight David Haye (22-1, 21 KO’s) thus far hasn’t exactly impressed me in the time that he’s been a heavyweight. Granted, Haye has fought only twice at heavyweight, but both times he fought, I didn’t see the huge talent there that some of his loyal fans have been speaking about.
Haye, 28, briefly held the WBA/WBC/WBO cruiserweight titles in 2007 and 2007, but quickly moved up in weight before he had to defend the titles against dangerous fighters like Steve Cunningham, Tomasz Adamek and Marco Huck.
Haye move up to the heavyweight division in November 2008, and defeated Monte Barrett by a 5th round TKO. That win pushed Haye far up in the heavyweight rankings where he’s currently ranked at an inflated #2 in the WBO, #4 WBA and #6 IBF.
I can’t see any particular reason why Haye was ranked so highly by these organizations, since he hadn’t beaten anyone worth noting except the hand picked Monte Barrett. To be honest, I don’t even consider Haye to be a top 10 heavyweight at this point. That’s not to say that he can’t improve over time and become one, but he would have to at least beat two or three solid heavyweights before I would consider Haye worthy of being a top 10 heavyweight. Below, I’ve listed heavyweights that I consider to be superior to Haye:
• Wladimir Klitschko
• Vitali Klitschko
• Alexander Povetkin
• Eddie Chambers
• Chris Arreola
• Ruslan Chagaev
• Nikolai Valuev
• John Ruiz
• Samuel Peter
• Kevin Johnson
• Odlanier Solis
• Oleg Maskaev
• Denis Boytsov
• Juan Carlos Gomez
• Lamon Brewster
There you have it. I see 15 heavyweights that are better than Haye in the division, and I have a few of others – Ray Austin and Manuel Quezada and DaVarryl Williamson – that I possibly think could beat Haye as well. It’s not that Haye doesn’t have talent. Haye appears to be a competent fighter, but his chin is weak, and he’s undersized for a heavyweight at 6’3” 215.
Haye would probably be better off moving back down in weight to the cruiserweight division where at least he would be competitive against the better fighters in the division. At heavyweight, I see Haye as being well over his head. Despite his total lack of qualifications as a heavyweight contender, Haye will be fighting for a title on November 7th against the WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev.
I see this as a cash out fight for Haye, one in which Haye will get a good payday but in a losing effort. I don’t think Valuev is a great fighter, especially at this late point in his career. However, he’s much more experienced against top level opposition than Haye and has a considerable 100 pound weight and one foot height advantage over Haye.
After losing to Valuev, Haye will likely stay ranked in the top 10, because the boxing organizations will still see him as a glamour fighter due to his speaking and promoting abilities. However, I don’t see Haye proving his worth as a top ranked heavyweight by actually fighting and beating anyone of talent.
I suspect that Haye will fight another journeyman type opponent after a loss to Valuev, and then will start calling out the Klitschko brothers 24/7 like he did before in order to try and get another title shot.
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