By William Mackay: Don’t hold your breath waiting for WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) to face one of the Klitschko brothers in his next fight, because it’s probably not going to be happening soon – if ever. The two sides seem to want different things when it comes to negotiations, and it’s not likely that they’ll agree on a fight before Haye retires next year when he turns 31.
Although Haye would make much more money if he would agree to fight the Klitschko brothers in a 50-50 deal with all the money thrown in the pot for the fight compared to other fights, it’s a fight that Haye seems reluctant to take due to the dangers involved.
As such, Haye has a number of potential opponents for his next fight starting with his mandatory challenger Ruslan Chagaev (27-1-1, 17 KO’s). A fight against would seem to be a nice safe fight for Haye, because the 32-year-old Chagaev is slow, short and not a big puncher. He looked beatable in his last fight against 2nd tier heavyweight Travis Walker on November 19th, beating him by a close eight round decision. However, a fight between Haye and Chagaev probably won’t make nearly as much money as Haye’s recent bout against Audley Harrison. It would, however, be a better fight, but that’s not saying much. Chagaev at least will throw some punches. If he’s able to take Haye’s shots without going down, he could make this a very interesting fight. Haye will have to fight Chagaev sooner or later or else he’ll get his title stripped from him. I doubt Haye will fight him next, though.
A wiser choice would be someone like Tomasz Adamek or Antonio Tarver. Those fights would likely make more money for Haye. The Adamek fight would be risky, because he can punch a little and would be a threat because he actually knows how to fight. For this reason, I have my doubts that Haye will choose to fight him. Tarver seems like a safer bet for the weak-chinned Haye. Tarver is better known in the U.S., and the British public will likely buy anything that Haye serves up gladly without complaint. After all, they happily scooped up tickets and purchased his fight with Harrison in droves despite it being a farce to begin with.
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