By William Mackay: A chunky looking Ricky Hatton added his own two cents to who things will win Saturday night’s contest between World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KO’s) and challenger David Haye by picking the 29-year-old Haye to win the fight by knock out.

Hatton, 30, who has been out of action five months since being starched in the 2nd round by Manny Pacquiao in May, said in an article in the Dailymail “David [Haye] packs a lot of power and I think he can do to Valuev what no one else has done and knock him out in sensational fashion.” Hatton believes that Haye’s speed and power will be the telling factors in this fight. Valuev, 7-feet tall and 315 pounds, isn’t one of the quicker heavyweights. In fact, Valuev may be the slowest of the top 15 heavyweights in the division. But Valuev is good at using his height and reach to his advantage. He tends to keep his opponents at the end of his jab though most of his fights.

In the past, Valuev only had a pawing jab and tended to rely more on his right hand and left hook to do most of the damage. However, in the past year his jab has improved immensely now that he has a new trainer. And while his jab isn’t as good as IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s powerful jab, it’s not far from it. Haye has to get past it somehow if he wants to land his big power shots.

Hatton thinks that if Haye can get by Valuev, and win in a spectacular style, Haye will be able to get the financial terms that he was looking for in his bouts with the Klitschko brothers.

“When he [Haye] does that [knock Valuev out], he can sit down at the negotiating tables with the Klitschko brothers again and he’s got a lot more pulling power then,” Hatton says. This is indeed true. But hopefully they’re interested in still fighting him. Haye has bailed out on both brothers in the past year for fights saying that he injured his back (in the case of Wladimir), and not liking the negotiating terms with Vitali.

If the Klitschko brothers make Haye wait around, he’ll have to defend the WBA heavyweight title against the contenders in the division and that might not be nearly as appealing to Haye. He’ll have to fight John Ruiz, his number #1 mandatory challenger, next anyway. Ruiz accepted step aside money to allow the Valuev-Haye fight to take place. Ruiz is no easy win.

He can take a good shot and he hangs around for the full 12. Ruiz could very well beat Haye if he can stick around until the later rounds and land something on Haye’s fragile chin. There’s a good chance that Haye’s 15 minutes of fame will consist of his win over Valuev, if he’s able to get by him at all. Ruiz could then act as the spoiler and take out Haye and ruin his chances at landing a shot against either – or both – of the Klitschko brothers. Haye has excellent power and speed, but he’s still light for a heavyweight and has poor stamina and a weak chin.

Hatton believes that Haye will be good for the heavyweight division. “If there’s one thing you think of when it comes to David Haye, it’s excitement,” Hatton says. “I think this is the first step in the ladder in the heavyweight division for him. I think he’s going to look sensational,” [against Valuev]. Let’s hope so. Haye will be utterly humiliated if he ends up getting stopped himself in this fight. If Valuev does win this fight, you can expect that he’ll win it by knockout. Haye either wins by knockout or losses by knockout. Although he’s only been stopped once in the pros, he was taken out in the amateurs by Odlanier Solis.