By Eric Thomas: After years of talking, WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) has finally achieved a part of his dream by getting a fight against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) on July 2nd at the Imtech stadium in Hamburg, Germany. The stadium seats a maximum capacity of 57,000, which is a decent number but not as big as some of the other stadiums that the fight could have been put in.

The date and the venue for the fight have been confirmed by Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente. They had been considering fights in Switzerland, Ukraine and other locations inside Germany. The date for the fight could have been June 25th, but the stadium was already scheduled for an event on that date.

Wladimir has been nursing an injured abdominal tear for the past four months. If the injury resurfaces, WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko will step in and take the fight with Haye. Although Wladimir is confident that he’ll be ready to go by July 2nd, you have to consider there being a possibility that the injury will flare up again and cause him to miss the fight because he’s already had setbacks in trying to recover. Haye says he doesn’t care which Klitschko he fights first, as he plans on fighting both of them anyway. However, Vitali, with his sturdy chin and excellent defensive skills, would be a very tough match-up for Haye at this point in his career.

Haye has had a lot of success at heavyweight since moving up in weight in 2008 from the cruiserweight division, but he’s faced no one near as good as either of the Klitschkos. Haye’s competition has been limited and his sparring partners won’t be able to adequately prepare him for what he’ll be facing in the ring on July 2nd. At only 6’2” 220, Haye is around the same size as the smallish Eddie Chambers. Haye doesn’t have much of a jab and seems to live and die with his ability to throw pot shot power punches. It’s worked against the limited opposition he’s faced at heavyweight, but it’s going to be difficult for him to land his pot shots against Wladimir or Vitali because of his lack of arm length and any kind of jab. This looks like a mismatch on paper, and you would have to think that Haye’s only chance of winning is if he can catch Wladimir or Vitali with one of his wild shots.