By William Mackay: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) will be giving up a lot of size in his fight against 6’6″ 247 pound IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) on July 2nd at the Imtech Stadium in Hamburg, Germany. In Haye’s last fight against 39-year-old Audley Harrison, Haye weighed only 210 lbs and looked smallish. Ultimately, it didn’t really matter because Harrison did zero to even try to win the fight. However, if Haye comes in at only 210 against Wladimir, he could be in for a world of hurt. That’s simply too small for Haye to compete.

It might be the right size for Haye to beat guys like Harrison but against Wladimir, Haye will be toyed with if he comes in at that weight. But here is where the problem lies for Haye. He has a small frame and can’t go above 220 without slowing down and looking fat. In Haye’s last four fights at heavyweight he has weighed the following: 222 lbs against John Ruiz, 217 lbs for Nikolay Valuev, and 215 lbs for Monte Barrett. Maybe the best weight of the bunch was in the Barrett fight where Haye didn’t look chunky like he did in the Ruiz fight and still had a lot of hand speed.

However, Haye still looked far too small in that fight to compete against Wladimir. Haye’s lack of size is going to be a problem for him no matter what weight he comes in at. He’s basically an Eddie Chambers sized heavyweight but with a little more power but far worse technique. He talks a better game than Chambers and was lucky to get a fight against WBA heavyweight champion Valuev given to him. Had Chambers been given that shot, I can easily see Chambers winning it and then beating the same fighters that Haye has fought with ease.

Haye is a better talker than Chambers, and hence he’s in the position where he is today facing Wladimir in July. But without the size, Haye is really just a more talkative version of Chambers. Here’s the deal – Wladimir destroyed Chambers in a one-sided 12th round TKO win in March 2010. Chambers weighed 209 1/2 lbs and wasn’t competitive. He was too small at 6’2″. The same will apply for Haye, only worse because he doesn’t have as good a skills as Chambers.