By Sean McDaniel: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye and his manage/trainer Adam Booth have a big decision to make whether to take on the dangerous IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and risk getting destroyed or take the easy path and fight fellow Brit Audley Harrison next for the easy money. Booth recently spoke about that in an article at the Telegraph, saying “The criticism [Haye would receive for fighting Harrison rather than Klitschko] dumped on David would be horrific. He would be branded a coward and people would say he was running away from the Klitschkos.”

Haye only has himself to blame for that, because he’s been calling out both of the Klitschko brothers for ages. And now that both of them are more than eager to fight him, Haye has suddenly come out of character and started dragging his feet about facing them. This isn’t how Haye has been in the past. Haye has seemed to pride himself on taking risks.

The Klitschkos obviously would be the biggest risk of Haye’s career, because the risks that Haye took at the cruiserweight level were much less than what he would be facing against the much bigger Klitschko brothers. The cruiserweight opposition was smaller, not as quick nor as power as someone like Wladimir Klitschko. Now that Haye is faced with a real threat of not only getting beaten but getting possibly humiliated by Wladimir, Haye is hesitating whether to take the plunge and fight him.

In the end, it’s likely that Haye and Booth will opt for the safe fight and go after the 38-year-old Harrison in an easy title defense in the UK. The fight will generate a lot of money there, Haye won’t have to worry about being destroyed and can hold onto his title for a little while longer while he decides whether it’s worth it to fight Wladimir or his big brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko.

Besides Harrison and the Klitschkos, former WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev wants a fight against Haye, as does Ruslan Chagaev, who recently defeated Kali Meehan in the WBA heavyweight eliminator match. For all practical purposes, Haye could milk his title for the next year against Harrison, Valuev and Chagaev. Haye would likely have to put on ear muffs to try shut out the criticism he would receive but he would likely cry all the way to the bank.