By Scott Gilfoid: Say what you want about Oscar De La Hoya, but he sure knows how to pump up his fighters and make them look like the best thing since sliced bread. Speaking about World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye, De La Hoya says “With his explosive fighting style, heart, youth and charisma, David Haye is the most exciting heavyweight in the world.” After reading what De La Hoya has to say about Haye, I don’t know if anyone can ever beat this guy?

It’s too bad that Haye still hasn’t proven that he is the most exciting heavyweight in the division yet. At 29, I don’t know that he’s all that young either. To me, 29 sounds kind of old, doesn’t it? That’s getting up there in age. Haye is going to be 30 next year, and I don’t think that’s young. In looking at him, I’d say he’s closer to his mid 30s rather than his early 20s.

And as far as fighting style goes, I still have yet to see the exciting, explosive fighter that De La Hoya is talking about. What I’ve seen in two of Haye’s three fights as a heavyweight is a cautious, tentative pot shot artist. If someone was to ask me who Haye reminds me of, I’d have to say Floyd Mayweather Jr. on one of his slow offensive nights.

I haven’t seen a fight of Haye’s at heavyweight where he throws a lot of punches. He seems to stingy with throwing punches like he’s afraid to tire himself out. Maybe Haye can be explosive if he did let his hands go more often, but at heavyweight, I’ve seen only one of his fights where he looked good and that was against an obscure heavyweight by the name of Tomasz Bonin.

I never heard of the dude until he fought Haye, and I haven’t heard of him since. But I did notice that Bonin was defeated by someone named Andrzej Wawrzyk.

Haye will be facing John Ruiz at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, Lancashire. That, no doubt, is going to give Haye a big advantage for the fight, because he’s going to have a ton of fans screaming their heads off for him. This is the perfect opportunity for Haye to try and live up to the praise that De La Hoya has given him.

If Haye can’t look explosive against an old fighter like Ruiz, who is both small and not a big puncher, I don’t know what to say. I think De La Hoya will have to re-think his thoughts about Haye being explosive and exciting if he labors to a 12 round win over Ruiz like he did in his last fight against 36-year-old Nikolay Valuev.

I don’t know how you can think Haye is exciting and explosive if he doesn’t show those attributes in fights against Valuev and Ruiz. Just think for a second. Would a prime Mike Tyson play it safe against the likes of Valuev and Ruiz? I somehow doubt it. If Tyson is considered to the gold standard for exciting “explosive heavyweights,” then this is what Haye needs to try and aspire to be.

I’m the first to admit that Haye has both the power and speed to be a Tyson clone if he wants to be, but as of yet, I haven’t seen it from him. I’ve been totally unimpressed with what I’ve seen of Haye in his fights against Monte Barrett and Valuev.