By Matt Stein: The word is that WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) isn’t looking to fight IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko or his brother WBC heavyweight title holder Vitali Klitschko next. These were the two fights that Haye has been talking about for eons, yet now that he has a chance to fight either of them depending on who he prefers, he’s not showing interest. For some boxing fans this is disappointing and surprising, but for others this isn’t unexpected.
Haye, 29, had a chance at fighting both Klitschko brothers before and backed out or came up lame with an injury to wipe out what would have been two mega fights. Now, the rumors are that Haye will be fighting 38-year-old Audley Harrison instead in a fight that will take place in the UK. If this is true, then I’m a little disappointed but not as much as I would be if Haye was fighting a lesser guy.
I think Harrison a step up from Monte Barrett, Tomasz Bonin, and John Ruiz, three of the four heavyweights that Haye has fought during his career. The fourth heavyweight, Nikolay Valuev, is a little bit better than Harrison but not that much. But my question is this: Is Haye milking his heavyweight title to keep it as long as he can by fighting guys he knows he can beat or is there a grand plan behind all this? I suppose Haye could be skipping the Klitschko fights to maybe age them a little more.
You’ve heard of aging a win. Well, it doesn’t work like that with fighters. If Haye waits long enough both of the Klitschko brothers may age enough to the point where they’re more docile and beatable compared to before. Right now, I think both of the Klitschko brothers would be lethal for the 6’3”, weak-chinned Haye. I don’t see how Haye could beat either one of them other than getting in a big shot that knocks them out. It’s possible, but not very likely. However, Haye has something working for him and that’s his age.
He’s only 29, nine years younger than Vitali and five years younger than Wladimir. If Haye can wait a couple of years before fighting the Klitschkos, they may deteriorate enough to the point where Haye could actually beat them. It would still be very hard because they would both be like a mine at that point and could explode on the glass-jawed Haye. Even two years from now, Haye will still be only 6’3”, not very flexible and not someone who can throw a jab to save his life. Haye would basically be a slightly slower version of the pot shot fighter he is today.
He’s mostly one punch at a time fighter and he tends to make the most of his opportunities in the ring. If he’s stuck on the outside eating jabs all night long, he likely won’t be able to do a whole heck of a lot when he does land an occasional pot shot unless he lands some excellent rabbit punches like he did against John Ruiz. Those were textbook rabbit punches from Haye in that fight, although I was shocked that he was able to get away them over and over again while only losing one point for it, I got to give him credit for landing the shots. It was working well for him in that fight. If he can land those shots against the Klitschkos, he could make the fight interesting but other than that, I see Haye getting blown out of the ring.
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