By Sean McDaniel: Former International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight champion Chris Byrd has his doubts whether WBA heavyweight champion David Haye can pull off the upset on Saturday night against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Byrd, who twice was beaten by Wladimir, thinks Haye will have to be extra special in order to beat Wladimir because of Haye’s limited size.

Speaking with eastsideboxing.com, Byrd said “He’s [Haye]small. It’s a hard task. Wladimir is bigger than you think. When you go to the press conferences and weigh-in, and you look at him you think okay, he’s big and he’s tall but he’s not that big, until you get in the ring, and you start feeling the power, and he’s keeping the range, and he’s hard to get to. It’s a difficult task…Haye better come up with something pretty special to try to upset Wladimir Klitschko.”

Byrd was beaten by Wladimir in a lopsided 12 round decision loss in 2000, and then beaten once again in a 7th round TKO in 2006. Byrd was never competitive against Wladimir because he lacked the height and reach to hit him with any consistency. Byrd and Haye are both about the same height with the same reach, only that Haye is much less skilled in terms of defense. Haye has the same problem that Byrd had during his career in that Haye doesn’t typically throw a lot of punches. Part of the reason is because he usually scores knockouts when he’s able to land with any consistency, but the other part is that Haye gasses out if he’s forced to throw more than 30 punches per round for any length of time. Haye isn’t built for long fights because of his heavy muscles on a small frame.

Haye will have problems trying to land enough of his pot shots to be competitive against Wladimir. With Haye showing a lot of movement, he could wear himself out while in the process of trying to keep from getting hit by Wladimir. Haye may also lessen his chances of scoring a knockout by moving a lot because it will take away his power because he’ll quickly fatigue and lose strength on his shots when he does have a rare opportunity to land a shot.