By Jim Dower: World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) has predicted that he plans on scoring a sensational knockout against John Ruiz in their fight tonight at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. Haye wants to knock the 38-year-old Ruiz out and be only the second person to be able to accomplish that feat.

If Haye can make this happen tonight, he will be showing the boxing world the kind of power that he has in his arsenal. However, for Haye to get a knockout against Ruiz, he’s going to have to be more willing to let his hands go than he was in his last fight against Nikolay Valuev last November. There’s no question that Haye has the power to knockout anyone in the division if they’re not on guard for Haye’s big telegraphed punches.

The problem for Haye is that he doesn’t always let his hands go and holds back with his shots until he’s almost certain that he won’t get hit with any retaliatory shots. In that respect, Haye is a lot like IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who is often very tentative about letting his power shots go. Haye recognizes that he needs to look better than he did against Valuev, and says “It will be completely different this time around. You’ll see what I can do against someone my own size. It will be something different to what people are used to seeing.”

If Haye wants to make that happen, he will have to throw more punches than his typical one punch at a time variety that he typically throws. There’s also a danger involved with fighting a guy like Ruiz. If Haye succeeds in stunning him, Ruiz could fire back with some big shots just as Haye comes storming after him like he usually does when he has an opponent hurt. Haye is often wide open defensively when attacking an opponent.

One of his flaws is that Haye, instead of throwing straight punches like normal heavyweights, tends to throw a lot of looping punches that have a wider arc, take longer to arrive and leave him open to getting hit. Haye wears his nickname “The Hayemaker” with pride. However, it’s actually a nickname that describes Haye’s flawed punching style perfectly. His punches are far too wide for his own at times and could cause him problems in his fight with Ruiz, a skilled professional with a lot of experience, and with other good heavyweights.

Haye thinks it’s going to be easier against Ruiz, and has probably watched Ruiz’s 1st knockout loss to David Tua in 1996 a number of times. In that fight, Tua jumped on Ruiz immediately and hurt Ruiz with a left hook to the head. Before Ruiz had much time to do anything, he found himself with his back against the ropes getting hammered by combinations from Tua.

Ruiz was knocked cold by a right hand to the head and then hit another time by Tua while falling down. Tua made it look so easy, but then again Tua was still young back then and very powerful. Haye hits hard, but hasn’t shown the same kind of power that Tua possesses nor the courage.

I think Haye will summon the courage tonight with 20,000 British fans screaming encouragement for him. Whether Ruiz goes anywhere once Haye starts hitting him is another question. If Haye can’t hurt Ruiz, he could find himself in deep trouble. Haye doesn’t like to get hit and could crumble if Ruiz is able to hit him with hard shots in every round.

Carl Thompson, the only fighter to beat Haye, started landing in the 4th and 5th round of their 2004 fight, and quickly took Haye out. Haye points out that he was younger back then and had made a mistake of jumping on Thompson too quickly. Haye could end up doing to same thing with Ruiz tonight and might pay for it unless he’s really careful.