By Richard McNamara: Firstly I’d like to thank everyone who commented on my first article “Haye v Klitschko debate – setting the record straight” much appreciated and I only hope this article achieves what the last one did, and gets people talking about boxing rather than hurling abuse. I thought I would write about this subject because as we all know, John Ruiz is the mandatory challenger to WBA champion David Haye and so this fight has to happen before Haye steps anywhere near a Klitschko.
Some media attention can be unwanted or better put not needed, I fear this could cause Haye to take his eye off the ball (Ruiz) and he could concede an own goal, Could this be the return of “the quiet man”?
Ruiz is a former two-time heavy weight world champion, long gone are the days when he first fought Holyfield to fill the WBA vacancy back in 2000, but he’s still going to ask some questions of Haye. If not looked upon as a serious opponent Ruiz may well cause an upset, he did loose on August 12th 2000 by by unanimous decision and that result made Holyfield the first to win a world heavy weight title on four separate occasions (legend). But many observers, boxing reporters and media felt Ruiz the underdog at the time, had done enough to win.
Come early 2010 when Ruiz steps in with Haye no doubt in many peoples eyes he will be the underdog once more, but look at his record and win or lose he’s been in with some quality fighters and he’s going to bring a wealth of experience to the ring with him along with some potentially harmful power. Out of his 44 wins 30 have come by way of KO and even as a Haye fan, I’ll be the first to admit his chins not the greatest on the planet. If Hayes steps into the ring with Ruiz whilst focusing on the Klitchsckos, ill prepared and distracted I’m afraid Wlad and Vitali could well be a distant dream and “the quiet man” does indeed return.
However if Haye enters the ring that night with his mind on the job at hand and in his usual supreme condition, it could be retirement for “the quiet man”. Haye has youth on his side, has a more intelligent boxing brain than I gave him credit for, to me the Valuev fight though boring showed Haye is not just a KO brawler, but he can actually think on his feet. His obvious advantages over Ruiz are his speed combined with his power, out of his 23 wins 21 have come by way of KO all be it the majority at cruiser weight, but his few outings at heavy have showed he can bang.
Early 2010 in my opinion could bring us an interesting heavy weight tile fight, in one corner a fighter though being a world champion still has much to prove at heavy weight, some would say still has a long way to go to gain acceptance. In the other an old time pro who craves to be back on top, I think someone is going to get knocked out come fight night and if his head’s in the right place, my money is on Haye to do the knocking out.
Opinions always welcome.
RMC
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