By William Mackay: At today’s weigh-in, World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) scaled in at a slender 210.5 pounds for his bout tomorrow night on November 13th against Audley Harrison (27-4, 20 KO’s) at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. For his part, the 39-year-old Harrison came in at 43 pounds heavier than Haye at 253.5 pounds. Both fighters look to be in excellent shape, but you have to wonder whether Haye made a gross miscalculation by coming in so light for this fight.
Haye’s lowest weight since moving up to the heavyweight division was his bout two years ago against Monte Barrett when Haye came in at 215. However, Barrett was a lot smaller [actually, one inch taller than Haye at 6’3” 226 lbs] than Harrison is. Haye obviously figures to use his speed to be about to move quicker around the ring to try and take advantage of the bigger, slower Harrison. However, when you’re giving up that kind of weight bad things can happen if Haye’s punching power isn’t able to produce the results that he wants against the much bigger Harrison.
Haye had this to say about his lack of size: “It’s not about who is the biggest fighter. I proved that when I beat Nikolai Valuev in Germany. I’m used to being the smaller fighter in the ring. I’m gonna get close to Audley and force him to fight every second of every round.”
Haye didn’t prove much against Valuev, other than he can run around the ring all night and stink up the joint with his timid fighting. That was perhaps the worse heavyweight display I’ve seen in ages, and I don’t think Haye deserved to win the title based on all the running he did in that fight. If Haye fights the same way on Saturday night, I see Harrison either winning a lopsided decision or stopping Haye. Harrison has a much better jab then Valuev and better power with his big left hand compared to the weak-punching Valuev.
At 210, Haye would be much too small for either of the Klitschko brothers. That would be like Chris Byrd, who came into his fights with Wladimir Klitschko weighing 209, and getting beaten up and totally dominated. Haye is around the same height as the 6’2” Byrd, and it’s pretty obvious he’ll get manhandled and mauled by both Klitschkos.
Harrison is quite happy with his size advantage for Saturday night, saying “I’m gonna utilize my weight advantage. In a long hard fight, going up in weight, down in weight, as he has done – that will work against him. He’s gonna be in the fight of his life. I’ve got into David Haye’s mind. He’s so sacred of losing to me, so he’s trained and trained and trained. I knew he’d come in light. This will work to my advantage.”
You have to wonder whether Haye over-trained for this fight because of his great fear of losing to Harrison. If Haye loses, he will then miss out on a huge payday against one of the Klitschko, which could ultimately bring him in between $10-15 million.
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