By William Mackay: It looks like there is next to no one that is picking WBA heavyweight champion David Haye to pull off an upset of IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko next month on July 2nd. Mike Tyson is the latest well known figure to pick Wladimir to beat Haye, as did Sky Sports Ringside guests Glenn McCrory and Jamie Moore. Haye is kind of out there all by himself with only a small band of loyal British fans supporting him.
This is what Tyson had to say about Haye-Klitschko on Sky: “I see Klitschko beating him [Haye], stopping him. It’s just got to be that way. He’s [Haye] a very good fighter, but this guys is too big and too talented for him. I like David Haye too, but I think he’s up against too much of an individual for him.”
How true. Haye is a good little heavyweight/cruiserweight facing an excellent super heavyweight with a much better amateur background and with far, far better technical skills. Haye is still pretty much an undisciplined swing for the fences type fighter, who has been able to get away with his bad boxing skills because of the combination of his fast hands, good power and very careful match making. Most of his opponents at the heavyweight level have been between 38 and 39.
Haye hasn’t been willing to take any real risks until now and it doesn’t matter now what happens in the fight, because Haye is going to get a bundle for this fight. He’s already made it clear that he’s retiring in October. This is basically the last fight for Haye unless he changes his mind at some point. Given that younger lions like Robert Helenius and Denis Boytsov are on their way up, it’s doubtful that Haye would want to come back and have to mix it up with the younger fighters. And there won’t be a demand for him to fight the Klitschkos once he loses to Wladimir.
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