By Chris Williams: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) could be fighting World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KO’s) next, according to Sport.box. The General manager Chris Meyer of Sauerland Events promotions thinks that it’s not a good idea for Haye to face IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko next. Haye also wants time off to rest after his 9th round stoppage of 38-year-old John Ruiz on April 3rd, he points out. Haye wants to spend more time relaxing with his family. Haye would like to fight Vitali Klitschko.

If Haye is able to beat Vitali, he would then face the winner of the fight between IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko vs. Alexander Povetkin. It appears that Haye feels that he would have a better chance against the likes of Vitali compared to Wladimir. It’s likely that Haye feels that his better hand speed and ring movement would help him beat the 6’7” Vitali. To be sure, Vitali had some problems with the hand speed of the 6’3” Kevin Johnson in his last fight in December.

Vitali had problems landing his right hands against Johnson. However, Vitali still was able to pretty much totally dominate Johnson over 12 rounds. Johnson took very few chances and looked to be in the survival mode, just looking to spoil rather than actually win the fight. It’s questionable how much more Haye, a weak chinned fighter, could do compared to Johnson. He won’t be able to hurt Vitali with his pot shots like he did against Ruiz and if he throws rabbit punches against Vitali like he did against Ruiz, he will probably lose a lot of points.

I see Haye’s work rate as being very low in a fight against Vitali, similar to his anemic 10 punch per round work rate against Nikolay Valuev in November last year. If Haye runs like he did in that fight, he might survive for 12 rounds against Vitali, but he’ll most surely lose and end up losing his WBA title in the process.

I would be greatly surprised if Haye does fight Vitali, because he bailed on him last year to take the easier fight against paper champion Valuev. I expect Haye do take the easier route again and take on EBU heavyweight champion Audley Harrison, who Haye would have a good chance of beating. Against Vitali, I would give Haye about a 1% chance of beating him. I think Haye would lose every round of the fight until he gets stopped. Haye wouldn’t be able to out-box a tall fighter like Vitali because he has no real jab and his arms would be too short. It would come down to Haye hoping to knock Vitali out. That wouldn’t happen and it would only lead to Haye either getting knocked himself or tiring out and then running or getting stopped. Basically, Haye has about as much chance of beating Vitali as he does Wladimir Klitschko, which is pretty much nil. But Haye might feel confident enough to take the fight and that’s a good thing.