By Jason Kim: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) sees himself as being comparable to the big 6’4″ southpaw Corrie Sanders, who destroyed Wladimir Klitschko in two brutal rounds eight years ago in 2003, knocking him down three times before the fight was eventually halted in the 2nd round with Wladimir looking out of it. The 6’2″ Haye is shorter than Sanders and not quite as heavy as him.

There really nothing in common between the two fighters other than the Klitschko fight. Sanders was able to hurt Wladimir in the 1st by jumping in and landing hard left hands and then moving away. Wladimir seemed out of sorts with Sander’s southpaw stance and speed. He also didn’t recognize that Sanders would still keep punching while in close. When Wladimir went down for the first time, he looked like he was getting ready to clinch Sanders and wasn’t prepared to get tagged hard. Wladimir wasn’t ready for Sander’s all out style of fighting and paid for it by getting knocked out.

Speaking with boxrec.com, Haye said “I’m a similar size to Corrie, and aggressive like him, but I’m a completely different animal. I’ll be in shape for 12 (rounds) if it comes to that – Corrie never did seem able to go at a pace for the distance. However, like Corrie did, if I start landing regularly against Wladimir the fight will be brutally one sided.”

Haye must get to Wladimir early. He can’t afford to let the fight go 10 to 12 rounds because Wladimir has a much better jab and will be landing a lot of punches. Wladimir rarely loses rounds and generally only loses rounds when he’s been knocked down or badly hurt. Wladimir uses his jab much more than he did earlier in his career when he fought Sanders, and because of that he’s a lot harder to stay in with because of the damage his jabs do. Sanders would have been in trouble if the fight with Wladimir went the full 12 rounds because Wladimir would have been connecting with a lot of left hooks and rights and Sanders’s ability to take punishment was limited when his fights went past six rounds.