By William Mackay: Like with his choice of Audley Harrison last time out, WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) points to the public demand for why he is now fighting IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) rather than his older brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (42-2, 39 KO’s) next on July 2nd. Haye could have selected Vitali to fight but he believes that fans prefer to see him fight the more vulnerable Wladimir instead.

It’s hard to agree with Haye, though, because boxing fans seem to be just as interested in seeing Haye fight Vitali as they do Wladimir. Some fans feel that Haye chose Wladimir to fight first because of Wladimir’s past history of having problems against sluggers. Indeed, Wladimir has been knocked down 11 times in his career and stopped three times.

In contrast, Vitali has never been knocked down and his only losses have occurred when he was cut in a fight he was ahead of in his fight with Lennox Lewis and injured his shoulder in his bout with Chris Byrd in 2000. Vitali was well ahead of Byrd at the time he injured his shoulder and couldn’t continue. Since Haye really only has a puncher’s chance against both of the Klitschkos, it makes sense that he would select Wladimir to fight instead of Vitali. But to say that he chose Wladimir to fight first because there was a huge demand for this fight seems a bit disingenuous.

In an article at the nypost.com, Haye said “He’s [Wladimir] the guy the public wants me to fight. If there was a poll, 90% of the people would say Wladimir. I’m boxing for the biggest and this is it.”

I disagree. I think Vitali vs. Haye would be the bigger fight because Vitali is well respected and has generally been an arguably more exciting fighter during his career than Wladimir. Earlier in Wladimir’s career, he may have been more exciting to watch than Vitali, but since he started training with Emanuel Steward, Wladimir has become much more conservative with his offense and is more of a jab and grab fighter now in the Lennox Lewis mode.