By Dave Lahr: After seeing how poor IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) looked while fighting on the inside against Samuel Peter (34-4, 27 KO’s) last Saturday night in Frankfurt, Germany, I have no doubts now that WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) can and will knock Klitschko out when they do eventually fight in the near future. In the past, I figured that Wladimir would easily beat Haye due to his better jab, longer reach and bigger overall size compared to the 6’3” 222 pound former undisputed cruiserweight champion Haye. I now see that Klitschko has absolutely zero ability to fight on the inside at all, period.

Wladimir basically only able to fight on the outside and when he gets near his opponents or when they get near him, all he can do is grab them in a tight clinch to prevent them from landing shots. Wladimir is doing this not because he can’t think of anything, but rather because the guy can’t fight on the inside. Well, David Haye can fight on the inside and is quite good at it.

Haye also doesn’t allow his opponents to clinch him. If you look at his fights, Haye keeps punching when his opponents grab him and try to clinch. Monte Barrett made that mistake against Haye in their fight in 2008, and quickly got knocked down when Haye landed a short, powerful right hand while Barrett had his arms around him in a clinch.

Haye reminds me of a British version of South African Corrie Sanders. Like Sanders, Haye’s weight is in the low 220s, and similar to Sanders, Haye has lighting fast hand speed, huge power and an ability to fight well in close. Wladimir tried to clinch with Sanders in their fight in 2003, and Sanders landed a powerful short right hand that dropped Wladimir and started the beginnings of his troubles in that fight.

Sanders wasn’t going to be clinched by Wladimir and he immediately made the Ukrainian heavyweight pay by landing a punch that probably didn’t travel more than a foot but yet was packed with power. Wladimir never gave Sanders a rematch after that fight, and it’s pretty easy to see why. Sanders would have likely knocked Wladimir out again, because Wladimir would have tried to clinch with him at some point, and Sanders would have blasted him with another short punch.

I see the exact same thing happening with Haye vs. Klitschko. I think Wladimir will do okay while the fight is on the outside where he can dominate with his jabs. However, once Wladimir gets in close and grabs Haye or even attempts to grab him, Haye is going to wreck Wladimir’s world. Haye will catch Wladimir either coming in to grab him or will light him up with short combinations while Wladimir has his arms draped all over him.

Haye doesn’t just let opponents grab him. He’s going to keep swinging and take them out. I think Sanders and Haye are basically same fighter and I don’t see Wladimir having any chance of winning that fight unless he knocks Haye out in the opening seconds of the fight before the first clinch. That isn’t going to happen because Wladimir is too timid and won’t even try to open up with his power shots until it’s far too late.