By Scott Gilfoid: World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko says he wants David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) to beat John Ruiz next month when they meet in the UK. In article at the Telegraph, Vitali, speaking of Haye’s April 3rd fight against Ruiz, says “it will be a difficult for Haye. Ruiz is a good fighter, strong, who has a good punch. But Ruiz does not have the speed to stop Haye, and Haye does not have the power to knock out Ruiz. It will be a point’s decision for Haye.” I’m in agreement about Haye not having the power to stop Ruiz.

Haye’s power is really overrated at heavyweight. He had good power at cruiserweight, but since he moved up to heavyweight, Haye is a lot slower and weaker at this weight compared to some of the naturally bigger heavyweights like the Klitschko brothers. Haye looks to me to be average when it comes to power and a little better than average in terms of hand speed compared to the other heavyweights in the division.

Vitali says “If the fight with Haye comes through, I would be happy to fight in England. I am ready to fight in any part of the world.” Wow! That’s great news, because Haye has been bellyaching about having to fight the Klitschko brothers in Germany, and at least now Haye will shut his yap about this issue. Of course, it won’t mean a thing if Haye doesn’t get by Ruiz on April 3rd, and it also will be meaningless if Haye doesn’t have a huge stadium that fits more than 50,000 fans.

Because a smaller 20,000 seat stadium is completely worthless when the Klitschko brothers are now routinely selling out 50,000 seat stadiums in Germany. IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko is expected to sell out the 51,000 seat stadium in Dusseldorf, Germany tomorrow night for his fight against Eddie Chambers. If Wladimir can sell out a huge stadium like this against an unpopular heavyweight like Chambers, can you imagine how many seats Vitali or Wladimir would be able to sell out for a mega fight against Haye? You can only guess, but I bet they could sell out an 80,00 seat stadium for a Haye-Klitschko fight.

Vitali says “Yes, of course, I’ll be watching David Haye’s title defense against John Ruiz, and I wish him good luck. I have my fingers crossed for him [Haye]. I want him to win, not because I like the guy, but because I want to fight him, and I want to shut his mouth.” Yes, I know how Klitschko feels. I want to have him shut Haye’s mouth too. It will be good to see Haye actually fighting one of the Klitschko brothers for a change instead of just talking them to death with his constant name dropping of the talented brothers.

However, I’m worried about Haye getting by Ruiz. I think that fight is a toss-up. If this was a young Ruiz, I think he easily wins this fight. But at 38, he’s slowed somewhat, which will give Haye a chance to win the fight by a 12 round decision. The bout is taking place in England, so if it’s somewhat close you can expect the decision to go to Haye, the home fighter.

I personally thought Haye lost his last fight against Nikolay Valuev. At best, I can call it a draw, but that’s about it. Haye didn’t do enough to get the win over the champion Valuev in my view. Running all night long and throwing 10 punches per round isn’t doing enough to take a title from a champion. You got to do better than that.