By William Mackay: Dan Rafael of ESPN theorizes that IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) may be picking the unbeaten British and Commonwealth champion Derek Chisora (14-0, 9 KO’s) as opponent for December 11th is to remove a potential future opponent for World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s).

It does kind of make sense because Chisora is picking up more and more believers in the UK, who see him as someone that they feel could give Haye problems if he were to try and fight Chisora. If Wladimir is able to get to Chisora first and destroy him with ease, this will remove Chisora as a potential opponent for Haye, because he won’t want to be seen as fighting a leftover from Klitschko. This is certainly possible.

However, Haye seems to have zero qualms about fighting fellow Brit Audley Harrison next month on November 13th, and Harrison has already been exposed on a number of occasions in stoppage losses.

It could be that Haye, as well as British boxing fans, don’t care if Chisora is destroyed by Wladimir. They’ll still likely be very interested in seeing Haye fight Chisora even if Wladimir easily beats Chisora in December. Haye seems to be more intent on holding onto his title rather than taking on a dangerous opponent like Wladimir or his brother Vitali Klitschko.

Even if Haye doesn’t fight Chisora after Wladimir beats him, there’s still plenty of other soft targets both in the UK and elsewhere around the world for Haye to target. It won’t change anything if Wladimir beats Chisora, because if Haye wants to milk his WBA title, which is what it appears he’s doing, then any soft target will be good enough for him. There’s too many mediocre opponents out there for Haye to fight in the heavyweight division if his intention is to keep away from the Klitschkos and just fight easy marks until he retires.