By Scott Gilfoid: World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) is determined to put in an impressive performance in his first defense of his WBA title belt on April 3rd, against two-time heavyweight champion John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KO’s) at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, Lancashire. The 29-year-old Haye won the WBA belt in November with a 12 round majority decision over champion Nikolay Valuev in Germany. Haye did just enough to squeak by with the decision in a safety first fight that Haye threw very power punches in.
Haye said in article at the Daily Star “I’ve got to either stop or absolutely batter Ruiz to a pulp. I know he has been hurt before, but he has got good powers of recovery. He has only been stopped once by David Tua, which was bit of a freak show and that won’t be happening again.” Haye might be better off trying to grind out a decision rather than going for a knockout and possibly wind up running into something from Ruiz.
Haye doesn’t appear to be that powerful at heavyweight, and his hand speed is much slower than it used to be. Haye isn’t even among the fastest heavyweights in the division despite all the hoopla made about him in the past. Haye was fast at cruiserweight, but at heavyweight he’s slowed way down and his shots aren’t blazing fast like a Mike Tyson or Wladimir Klitschko.
So far, Haye has only fought three times at heavyweight beating 2nd tier heavyweights Tomaz Bonin and Monte Barrett, and then beating Valuev by a narrow, some would say questionable, decision last year. Haye threw only around 10 punches per round and only one punch at a time.
If Haye had thrown combinations he would have left himself open to getting clubbed by Valuev, which is why Haye probably opted for the safe approach by throwing one punch at a time. Nothing much is different for this fight. Although Haye has started out saying that he’s going to beat Ruiz to a pulp, this is exactly what he did before the Valuev fight, and what we got was a timid looking fight instead from Haye. I expect to see the same cautious one punch at a time performance from Haye against Ruiz.
Haye says “He’s [Ruiz] a lot more durable than people give him credit for. He’s also got a new trainer, so he should be as fresh as he has always been. He’s a seasoned campaigner and I’m looking to deal with John Ruiz the way Lennox Lewis would have.” I don’t see the comparison here that Haye is trying to make. He’s nothing like Lennox Lewis in his fighting style.
Lewis was huge at 6’5” with long arms, whereas Haye is listed at 6’3”, but looks to be only 6’2” with much shorter arms than Lewis. If I was to compare Haye to any heavyweight it would be Oliver McCall. Haye reminds me a lot of McCall with his style of fighting, his tendency to rely on his right hand a lot. He’s no Lewis or Mike Tyson that’s for sure.
“I can’t have a bad night because people will say maybe the Valuev win wasn’t that good,” Haye says. “I need to keep the momentum going so people know I’m the true world heavyweight champion.”
I seriously doubt many people will ever consider Haye to be the true world champion. Maybe if the Klitschko brothers weren’t around and Haye actually fought some good heavyweights instead of a pile of carefully selected heavyweight opponents like the ones he has fought.
If Haye turns things around after the Ruiz fight and takes on the Klitschko brothers and beats them, people will of course see him as the true heavyweight champion. But for now, all they have to go by is Haye’s wins over Bonin, Barrett and Valuev. That’s pretty competition if you ask me, and Ruiz doesn’t help things any. Haye needs to fight the Klitschko brothers, beat them and then defeat the likes of Alexander Povetkin, Denis Boystsov, Chris Arreola and Odlanier Solis before he’s considered the true heavyweight world champion.
The problem is I don’t think Haye can beat any of those guys. I see them all knocking him into the stratosphere if given the chance. I think Haye is good at beating 2nd tier heavyweights, but I believe most of the top 15 will plant him on the canvas.
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