By William Mackay: David Haye (22-1, 21 KO’s) will be looking to pull off an upset next month in his title fight against WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev in Nuremburg, Germany. Although some boxing fans see Haye as beating Valuev, a perhaps bigger portion believe that the 7-foot Valuev’s bigger size and experience will be the telling factors in this fight.

There’s little doubt that Valuev is the more experienced and much bigger fighter than the 6’3” Haye, but big Nikolay won’t have the youth, power or speed going for him in this fight. I think Haye could somehow win this fight if he’s able to keep from getting manhandled by the huge Valuev.

Above all, Haye has to avoid getting caught up in any big exchanges with Valuev, because the Russian has sneaky power. Valuev doesn’t throw hard with most of his shots, but every once in a great while, he’ll really load up on one of his big clubbing shots and give his opponent’s problems.

Haye could find himself getting over-confident against Valuev if he’s able to find early success against him. But if Valuev is able to connect with a big shot on the chin of Haye, the bout could be over in an instant with Haye toppling down like a small tree. However, I believe that Haye will be smart, use his head and not come blindly in against Valuev with his guard down. Haye is much cleverer than most boxing fans give him credit for and he’ll be mindful about staying out of the reach of the bear-like Valuev’s clubbing right hand shots.

A win over Valuev will vault Haye into the stratosphere of the heavyweight division, and quite possibly making him the biggest super star in the division. That’s not because Haye is any better than the Klitschko brothers, it’s because his style and the way that he presents himself as a cock self assured individual is what many boxing fans find appealing.

In a way, Haye has the persona of a young Muhammad Ali with his brash way of talking. I’m not saying that Haye’s style of fighting is anything like Ali, because the two are complete opposites in terms of fighting style. Haye is closer to being a combination of Mike Tyson and George Foreman rather than Ali. But like Ali, Haye has to get by on his wits at time, especially against a much bigger fighter like Valuev.

Haye can’t just go right into the teeth of Valuev’s offense because he might get caught by one of Valuev’s clubbing shots and taken out. Haye will have to get at Valuev little by little, hitting him here and there with big power shots and then getting out of the way before the slow moving Valuev has much time to respond with any shots of his own.

As long as Haye makes sure he gets away quickly, he should do alright against Valuev and end up capturing the title. It will take a good offensive performance from Haye. He won’t get a win unless he does something spectacular because the fight is being held in Germany and Valuev, after all, is the champion. The judges aren’t going to just give away the title to Haye without him doing something special like hurt Valuev or knock him down.