By Dennis Broadhurst: With the Haye-Valuev bout fast approaching there are mixed opinions on who will win. Will Haye’s chin give out or will it be strong enough to get in close and hurt the huge monster Valuev? Haye certainly has some advantages, power, speed and youth are the main ones, while Valuev has obvious advantages in size and weight, strength (not power), reach, ability to take a punch and also experience.

Will Haye be powerful enough to crack the iron chin of Valuev? I do not think so as we have seen Valuev take some heavy punches from some opponents. I also think that Haye may be a little cautious of going for the knockout, and he should be, in the past Haye has gone for the knockout and burned out his motor in a few rounds. Haye will probably play it safe and fight into the later rounds.

If Haye does this then he will have to dictate the pace of the fight as Valuev will not get tired if Haye is just dancing around and coming in with flurries 3 or 4 times per round. If Haye dictates the pace from the third or fourth round after measuring Valuev and finding his range then he will have a better chance of winning. Lets remember that Valuev has 320 pounds of body weight to carry about and if the fight is fought at a fast pace over a good number of rounds then I think we will see him tire worse than ever before. We do not usually see Valuev tire as his fights are fought at a painfully slow pace but if Haye can use his youth and speed to dictate the pace then I do believe he can win the fight. Haye should also consider working to the body of Valuev as it is a huge target and body punching will likely help tire out the “Beast from the East”.

There is little point in Haye going for an early knockout because it will not work, he has to punch a head which is almost a foot above his own which will take some power out of his shots, Valuev has an iron chin and as I mentioned earlier Haye may burn himself ou in a few rounds if he attempts an early knockout. Haye should fight a cautious but fast paced fight, presuming his stamina has improved during training. If he tucks his chin and keeps patient then I see him winning the fight.

Valuev will not get a gift decision like he did against Holyfield. The truth is that boxing is not kind to 48 year old heavyweight fighters these days but Haye is 29 years old and has been hyped up a little by the media so I do not see him being robbed as there is potential for big money in him.

So, I believe that if Haye fights a fast paced but patient fight and uses his advantages well then he can win by a late round stool retirement from Valuev or a points decision. If Haye fights too cautiously then he may still win by a boring fight by decision but this will lose him a lot of fans in the hungry boxing world. There is of course the chane that Haye will be too eager to impress and Valuev may be angry at Haye’s comments and have trained hard. If this is the case then we may see a KO or TKO of Haye by the giant Valuev. However I hope we see an exciting fight and I want Haye to win, I think it is time that the smaller heavyweights came back because to be honest these giants fight very slow, boring fights and they are killing the heavyweight division.