By William Mackay: In a sign that WBA heavywieght champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) has little respect for the ability of his 39-year-old opponent Audley Harrison (27-4, 20 KO’s) for this Saturday’s match, Haye is saying that a loss to Harrison would be a humiliating experience for him. Speaking the Dailymail.co.uk, Haye said “All you have to do is imagine what a right mug I would look if I lost. Getting beat by Audley would be more than an embarrassment. I would be beyond humiliation. it would be a catastrophe for me, my career and for everything I stand for.”

I don’t agree with Haye. I think a loss to Harrison would pretty much show that Haye has been merely a flawed, smaller heavyweight, with good but not great ability. Haye isn’t a big heavyweight, and ran for his life in his only fight against a big heavyweight when he barely beat 7-foot Nikolay Valuev last year. That performance from Haye gave a good indication of Haye’s talent level at heavyweight. Based on that fight, Haye getting beaten by Harrison would be no shock at all.

Valuev was considered to be the worst of the heavyweight champions last year, a mere paper champion. There were probably at least 10 of other top heavyweights that would have beaten Valuev if given the chance. The fact that Haye badly struggled and barely beat Valuev tells you how good Haye is as a heavyweight. Haye may have been a good cruiserweight, but as a heavyweight, he’s vulnerable and not a super star. I think Haye will do okay if he can run all night against Harrison, but if he gets hit, he’s going to go down and probably won’t get back up. Haye has been selectively matched since moving up to heavyweight in 2008, and each one of his opponents have been nearing 40 and not all that good. John Ruiz and Monte Barrett were about the same size as Haye and not very big. Indeed, Barrett, 6’3″, looked even bigger than Haye. I think the 6’6″ Harrison could beat Haye on size alone.