By Dave Lahr: Heavyweight David Haye (22-1, 21 KO’s) may just be whistling past the graveyard as he continues to brag and self promote about his abilities as he approaches this Saturday night’s fight against WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KO’s). As confident as ever, Haye says “I’m as freakishly fast as Valuev is freakishly big.” Haye is fast, but he’s not nearly as fast as he was as a cruiserweight. Haye may not be aware of it, but he’s slowed down quite a bit in moving up to the heavyweight division and the more weight that he packs on the slower he’ll be.

There are rumors that Haye is bloating up for the Valuev fight and will be coming in at 225, which is 10 pounds heavier than Haye has ever weighed before. For most heavyweights, 225 is light. However, Haye is moving up from the cruiserweight division and he appears maxed out at 215. In other words, Haye has a small frame and doesn’t have the capacity to put on much more weight than 215 without drastically slowing down.

Against Monte Barrett in Haye’s last fight, Haye looked much slower than he was in the past and not much quicker than the 38-year-old Barrett. Haye looked a lot slower than Wladimir Klitschko, who has some of the quickest hands in the heavyweight division. Haye is still fast but nothing like he was as a cruiserweight. In addition to that, Haye’s power seems a lot less impressive as well.

Haye didn’t look at all powerful in his fight against Monte Barrett. Haye hits hard but no harder than other decent heavyweights in the division like Ruslan Chagaev. Certainly, Haye’s power is nowhere near the level of the Klitschko brothers or Samuel Peter, three of the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division. Haye might have to find another answer to come up with against big Nikolay Valuev on Saturday night, as Haye’s so-called speed and power are much less effective against the bigger fighters.

It’s not surprising because Haye is fighting heavyweights that are 35 to 100 pounds heavier than his former weight of 200 pounds. If you were to compare this to fighters in the lower weight classes, it’s like a fighter moving up five to ten weight classes overnight and still expecting to have his speed and power. It’s crazy to imagine a fighter doing and winding up successful.

It’s a credit to Haye that he’s still bragging nonstop about him but it might be a little delusional on his part. If anything, Haye is likely to fail and fail big in the heavyweight division. You can’t blame him for trying, because he’d never make a penny in the cruiserweight division but he’ll still probably fail. Haye looked nothing special against Barrett and appeared to luck out when his knockdown in the 5th was ruled a slip by the British referee. Haye looked hurt against the light hitting Barrett. That’s a bad sign.