By Scott Gilfoid: In case you haven’t noticed, Adam Booth, the trainer/manager for WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 Ko’s) has been mentioning IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) as the one they’d like to fight of the two Klitschko brothers next year. Instead of wanting to taking on World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO’s), Booth keeps mentioning Wladimir as the one that he wants Haye to fight. Why not Vitali? Are they afraid to take on Vitali because of his ability to take shots and because of what he did to Shannon Briggs recently. I smell fear.

It looks like they feel they can beat Wladimir but don’t seem to feel the same way about Vitali. It would be funny to see how Haye would go about trying to beat a guy like Vitali. Haye would probably run around the ring all night long trying to keep from getting hit. The problem is Vitali would be throwing jabs, left hooks and right hands continuously, unlike Haye’s recent hand-picked British opponent Audley Harrison.

I could see Haye getting really torn apart by Vitali if the fight were allowed to go at least six rounds. I don’t think it would. I see Booth throwing in the towel early as soon as Haye starts getting hit, and we get a quick submission to save Haye from getting pummeled. It would be like Haye’s fight against 40-year-old Carl Thompson, a fight in which did well until Thompson started throwing punches back. As soon as Haye started getting tagged, Booth threw in the towel even though Haye was still fighting back. But in the case of Vitali facing Haye, Vitali would dominate every minute of the fight and wouldn’t take punishment the way that Thompson did early in the fight.

If I’m the Klitschkos, I’d shove Vitali down Haye’s throat in a take it or leave if offer. If he wants to fight the Klitschkos, he needs to take on the older one first while he’s still active. I don’t want Haye and Booth to wait out Vitali until he retires or ages to the point where he can be beaten. They need to fight him first and if there’s anything left of Haye after that, he can then fight Wlaidmir. That’s how you negotiate with Haye and Booth.