By Michael Lieberman: 38-year-old former WBA/WBC cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck (36-4, 22 KO’s) will be fighting 38-year-old former WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (49-7-2, 40 KO’s) on May 7th in a WBA heavyweight title eliminator. The winner of the Mormeck vs. Rahman fight will then be facing World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye next, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

There has been talk of Mormeck fighting Haye in place of Ruslan Chagaev, but that’s not going to be the case unless Haye is willing to wait until July or August to face the winner of Mormeck-Rahman at that time. It would be a terrible waste of time for Haye to do this, but at least he wouldn’t have to face Chagaev or the #2 WBA contender Denis Boytsov. Neither of those fights would be easy wins for Haye because Chagaev and Boytsov can punch a little.

Rahman has been fighting as a pro for the past 17 years and briefly held the WBC heavyweight title in 2006, but quickly lost the title in a 12th round knockout by Old Maskaev in the same year. Rahman has done little since then, beating mostly 2nd tier fighters and battling weight problems. Rahman challenged IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko for his title in December 2008, but was stopped in the 7th round of a one-sided contest. Rahman has won four consecutive fights since then, albeit against B and C level opposition.

Mormeck retired for two years after being stopped by Haye in the 7th round in November 2007 at cruiserweight. Mormeck then retired for two years and then came back in 20-9, winning three consecutive fights at heavyweight to get ranked at #8 by the WBA. At 5’11”, Mormeck is one of the shorter heavyweights in the division. He’s not particularly fast and his once impressive power didn’t carry up with him when he moved up to the heavyweight division. In short, Mormeck is an aging, slow, undersized heavyweight that has gone life and death with fringe heavyweights Fres Oquendo and Timur Ibragimov.

Rahman should have no problems beating Mormeck unless the fight takes place in France. In that case, Rahman may need a knockout to win. I had Oquendo and Ibragimov both beating Mormeck.