By Sean McDaniel: Yet another attempt at putting together a fight between David Haye and one of the Klitschko brothers recently bit the dust when Haye was unable to agree to a unification fight against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko after the two fighters came to a stalemate over the revenue for the TV rights to the fight. Haye wants to keep the British television revenue, whereas Wladimir wants it to be a 50-50 deal, with it thrown in the pot. As such, Klitschko is now going to be fighting Alexander Povetkin on September 11th, and Haye will have to look at another alternative.

Haye is saying that he’s not interested in taking on fellow Brit Audley Harrison, which may turn out to be a huge mistake on Haye’s part because that fight figures to be the best option available for Haye right now to get a huge payday without much risk. The ideal option is for Haye to fight WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, but that fight likely won’t be made for the same reasons that the Haye-Wladimir fight couldn’t be made.

This leaves Haye to consider one of the top 15 contenders that the WBA has ranked. Haye could fight a rematch with former WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev, who Haye defeated by an unimpressive 12 round majority decision last November. It’s a fairly non-risky fight for Haye, because Valuev isn’t a huge puncher, is slow and appears to have aged in the last couple of years.

Haye would get a decent payday in a rematch with Valuev and wouldn’t have to face the same kinds of risks that he would be taking on if he were to fight one of the top contenders like Odlanier Solis, Denis Boytsov or Ruslan Chagaev. Fights against either of those three fighters wouldn’t likely make huge money for Haye, and they would be dangerous fights because those fighters are hard punchers and can take a good shot. I think any of those three would be good for Haye in that he would at least earn some respect from boxing fans by stepping it up.

However, it just seems unlikely that Haye, unless he absolutely has to, would be willing to take a risky fight against someone that could dent his fragile chin. This is why I can’t see Haye taking on a risky fight against any of them unless he was faced with the prospect of being stripped of his heavyweight title by the WBA. Former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter is also likely not going to be an option for Haye to fight. Although Peter, 6’1,” has had problems when taking on giant heavyweights like the Klitschko brothers, losing to both of them in the past.

Peter does remarkably well against fighters that are 6’3″ and shorter. At 6’3″, possibly only 6’2″, Haye wouldn’t have the size or the jab to dominate Peter from the outside like the Klitschko brothers were able to do against Peter. Haye would have to use his feet to run from Peter for 12 rounds, and that’s probably not going to work well enough for Haye to avoid getting hit with some massive shots. Peter would be big problems if he was to catch Haye against the ropes. In Haye’s recent win over 38-year-old John Ruiz last April, Haye made the mistake of retreating to the ropes from time to time and taking some needless shots from Ruiz. If that happens against Peter, it’s doubtful that Haye would be able survive.