By Sean McDaniel: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) isn’t happy that IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) decided to take a tune-up bout with unbeaten British heavyweight champion Dereck Chisora (14-0, 9 KO’s) on April 30th instead of waiting around to fight him on July 2nd like they had briefly talked about.

Haye pulled out of the fight with Wladimir and now will be forced to defend his title against either Ruslan Chagaev or Alexander Povetkin on May 21st in the UK. Haye thinks that Wladimir doesn’t want to fight him because of his speed and power.

This is what Haye had to say on the subject at Sky Sports Ringside the other day: “He [Wladimir] didn’t like getting knocked out by Corrie Sanders. He didn’t like fighting someone fast, someone who could move away from him. He likes fighting guys like Dereck Chisora.” Haye thinks Chisora is someone that Wladimir will be able to easily beat, and we’ll soon see if Haye is correct about this belief.

Wladimir was knocked out in the 2nd round by the 6’4″ southpaw Sanders in 2003. It looked like Wladimir wasn’t comfortable with Sander’s southpaw stance and didn’t realize how quick or how powerful he was until it was far too late. Sanders landed a huge left hand that sent Wladimir down. He never recovered from that shot and was sent down again. The speed was a big problem for Wladimir, as was Sanders being a southpaw. Haye, 6’2″, isn’t as tall as Sanders and he seems more predictable in his attacks. Wladimir would likely do well against Haye unless he were to try and fight him in close. If he did that, Haye would have a good chance of winning.