By Scott Gilfoid: Having fought only twice in the past two years, WBA heavyweight champion David Haye reportedly wants a rest to spend time with his family, according to his promoter from Sauerland Events Chris Meyer. In an article at Sport.box, Meyer said that Haye fought on April 3rd against John Ruiz and needs a rest and wants to spend more time with his family after his 9th round knockout victory. Haye also wants to fight WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko instead of IBF/WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko, who badly wants to fight Haye. Why on earth would Haye needing a rest for?

Man, he just wiped out Ruiz and was barely touched for nine of the most one-sided rounds I’ve seen in quite awhile. Before that, Haye ran around the ring for 12 rounds against Nikolay Valuev and was rarely hit in that fight. So why does he need a rest? Haye fought only once in 2009, twice in 2008, and twice in 2007. That hardly sounds like a fighter who needs a rest, does it? Sometimes it seems like Haye is really pampering himself with these breaks.

I can understand why Haye might prefer to fight Vitali Klitschko rather than Wladimir. Vitali is a lot slower, and has problems sometimes against faster fighters. Wladimir doesn’t. Haye’s hand speed would be neutralized by Wladimir, because he punches about as fast as Haye, if not faster. There would be no advantages for Haye in a fight against Wladimir. Haye would be in great danger of getting knocked cold if Wladimir was to land one of his right hands. He’d land one eventually because of his hand speed. Vitali is a different case. He’s pretty slow and Haye might be able to avoid getting nailed by his right hands.

But that doesn’t mean he’s going to be able to hurt Vitali with any of his shots. I think the fight would be like watching an ugly hit and run fight with Haye landing and then scurrying away before he gets hit. Haye would likely have problems connecting to the head of Vitali and would have troubles with his left hook. I expect that Haye would be knocked cold at some point, but I can’t blame him for wanting Vitali more than Wladimir.

It would be a slower fight and he wouldn’t have to worry about getting hit with punches that he does see coming, like he would against Wladimir. If Haye got hit with one of Wladimir’s left hooks, they might have to take Haye out of the ring on a stretcher. That’s pretty much what Haye would be getting hit with, that and a lot of jabs from Wladimir. Later in the fight, if Haye is still standing, Wladimir would open up with his right hands. At that point, the fight would end quickly. It would also end suddenly if Wladimir lands one of his left hooks cleanly.

But what is up with these rests with Haye? He acts like he just went through a war with Ruiz instead of what was pretty much a slaughter. Ruiz was the perfect opponent for Haye – small, slow, no power and old like two of Haye’s other opponents at heavyweight Monte Barrett, 38, and Valuev, 36.