By William Mackay: Tonight, WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) puts his World Boxing Association title on the line against John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KO’s) at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. While I’m really hoping that Haye comes to fight this time, I don’t expect to do much more than he did in his last fight five months ago against Nikolay Valuev in November. In that fight, Haye ran for the 12 rounds, throwing right hands from time to time, and throwing little better than 10 punches per round.

Entertainment-wise, it was a painfully boring fight to watch because of Haye’s constant movement and his reluctance to mix it up with the big Russian heavyweight. Haye says that he had to do that because of Valuev’s big size advantage, but Haye proved to be little better than 46-year-old Evander Holyfield, who put on a similar – some say better – performance against Valuev a year earlier in December 2008. Haye wants to look better tonight against Ruiz, throw more punches, win impressively in front of the large Manchester crowd, and make a statement in the boxing world.

However, I’m not holding my breath on that happening. It’s hard for a fighter accustomed to dominating at a smaller weight against different types of fighters to move up 20+ pounds and face fighters a lot larger and more powerful than the ones that Haye used to fight. Haye has clearly brought his better hand speed from the cruiserweight division, but it’s unclear whether that’s all Haye has brought.

In order to compete at the heavyweight level, a fighter needs a good chin, a lot of courage and the size to compete. Haye has the power and hand speed, but the other factors may be lacking. He’s small at 6’3”, little bigger than Eddie Chambers, who was recently annihilated by IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

However, there appears to be two levels in the heavyweight division – one with super sized heavyweights like the Klitschko brothers – and another with smaller heavyweights like David Haye and John Ruiz. Haye has to prove that he can beat the smaller heavyweights like himself without running from them.

In other words, he’s going to have to prove that his chin is sturdy enough to take hits from the smaller heavyweights like Ruiz before he can get a chance against the much bigger and much more powerful Klitschko brothers. We may find out tonight that Haye doesn’t have what it takes, and that he’s too small and too timid to make it to the higher level.

I’m really pulling for him, because we need a fighter that can stand up to the Klitschko brothers for at least one fight, if nothing else. I don’t expect Haye to have any chance against either of the Klitschko brothers, but if Haye can beat Ruiz, he’d at least show that he’s one of the best of the smaller heavyweights. Forgetting the paper belt that he holds currently, Haye is among a number of the smaller heavyweights who are longing for a chance against the Klitschko brothers.

Haye won’t likely have to face any other smaller heavyweights if he can get by Ruiz tonight before facing the Klitschko brothers. That’s probably a good thing, because there are a number of the top contenders that would likely trip Haye up and prevent him from getting a unification bout against Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko. But beyond that, Haye has to not run from Ruiz tonight and show some courage by going after him. It won’t look good if the younger, more powerful Haye is seen running from the 38-year-old Ruiz all night long in front of a home audience in England.