By Scott Gilfoid: One of the worst things that World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) could imagine is if he was to be beaten by two-time heavyweight champion John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KO’s) on Saturday while fighting in front of Haye’s home crowd at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. Haye says in an article at the Dailystar, I don’t want to think that he [Ruiz] is coming to take anything off of me. The way I have prepared is that I am feeling like I have to take something off Ruiz. I need to stay hungry and not allow someone like Ruiz to mess it up for me in front of all my fans.”

Whatever works for you, Haye, then do it. I don’t see why Haye needs to play tricks on himself to get a convincing win over the 38-year-old Ruiz if he’s truly as good as he says he is. I mean if Haye thinks he can beat both of the Klitschko brothers, then why would be need to play tricks on himself to get a win over a fighter like Ruiz, who would probably be overwhelmed in a fight against either of the Klitschko brothers.

Do you honestly think the Klitschko brothers would resort to playing mind tricks to get psyched up for a fight against Ruiz? I don’t. I think they would plan out a strategy about the fight, take a nap in the dressing room, get up and go out and destroy Ruiz. Of course, those are the Klitschko brothers. I guess Haye needs a little extra to get him pepped up for the fight.

Haye says “The fear of getting beaten spurs me on and if I lost to Ruiz, it would be devastating.” You can say that again. If Haye loses to Ruiz on Saturday, you can forget about a Haye-Klitschko fight anytime soon. I think Vitali would move on and fight a couple of more bouts and then retire without wasting his time fighting Haye. Wladimir would also tend his own garden and focus on defending his IBF/WBO heavyweight titles. With Haye, he would have to scratch and claw his way back to another title shot.

If Ruiz beats Haye, that would be the one that Haye would go after rather than the Klitschko brothers. The road to a fight against the Klitschko brothers would be much tougher because there are a number of fighters like Alexander Povetkin, Samuel Peter, Denis Boytsov and Odlanier Solis that are in front of Haye. If he would have to fight one or two of them to get a shot against the Klitschko brothers, I think he’ll never get a shot because I think he would lose to them and lose badly.

Haye, speaking of his road to his championship title, says “I’ve fought for genuine titles and fought the best when the best has been available. I have not padded my record with 25 knock-overs and fought for silly titles.”

Wait a second. While I see the WBA as being a genuine title, I don’t think that Haye fought the best fighters in the heavyweight division to get his shot at the WBA title. Come on, Monte Barrett and Tomasz Bonin. Surely, I think Haye could have fought better fighters than this, don’t you think? I’d have settled for Haye fighting Odlanier Solis or Alexander Povetkin to get his title shot against Valuev. If he could beat them, then I’d give Haye a lot of credit for having fought the best in the heavyweight division. As far as Haye’s experience at cruiserweight, he probably did fight the best at that level. But I think the cruiserweight division is a poor one. It’s gotten recently, though. I’d like to see how Haye would do against the top guys in the division right now.

I think Haye shouldn’t have such a fatalistic outlook about him losing to Ruiz. If Haye loses to Ruiz, it’s a signal. Some fighters aren’t cut out for being the best at a certain level. If Haye gets beaten by Ruiz like I think he will, it could be a signal that Haye needs to move back down in weight or accept a smaller role in the heavyweight division. There’s no shame in that. If all else fails, Haye always move back down to the cruiserweight division and ply his trade there. Who knows? Haye might even be able to recapture one of his titles.