By Dan Ambrose: ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas said on Friday Night Fights that he’s going with IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) to defeat WBA heavyweight champion (25-1, 23 KO’s) in their unification bout in Germany. Atlas pointed out in analyzing the fight that Haye seems to be very confident for this fight, but questions whether it’s legitimate confidence or not.

Atlas isn’t sure if it’s a bluff on Haye’s part or real self belief that he can beat Wladimir. But whatever the case, Atlas feels that Wladimir’s straight right hand will beat Haye’s looping left hook to the target and will result in Wladimir stopping tonight.

Here is what Atlas to say about Haye-Klitschko: “The hope lies with David Haye. You hope that his bravado isn’t false bravado and that it’s true confidence that he believes he can win this fight, and he has a reason to believe it. You also hope that he will be aggressive because most of the opponents for Klitschko have not been aggressive. They laid back and let him control the distance. Haye is a fighter that is a good offensive fighter. He can be explosive, he’s got quick hands and quick feet to jump on a guy with three losses and all by knockout. What he has has to be true confidence, true belief, true discipline that he can get to this guy. He has to get inside the distance where it’s not good for Klitschko anymore. Klitschko stands straight up. You can hit him, but he has to use his quick feet. I hope it’s not false bravado [on Haye’s part], I hope it’s real confidence. I have to go with Klitschko because a straight right usually beats a left hook. There’s a chance that left hook can get in, but I’ve noticed that Haye jumps in with that left hook a little bit. If Klitschko is set, that straight right hand, that hammer that he likes to call it, will have a moment and a chance to knock out David Haye. I’ll take Klitschko in this fight.”

I wonder also about Haye’s confidence. He speaks like he’s confident but if you look at his past fights, he fights like he’s very timid a lot of the time. Haye only seems to be confident when he’s got someone hurt from one of his pot shots. Otherwise, he’s very timid looking. And Atlas is correct about Haye jumping in with his left hook. But he not only jumps in with his left hook, but he throws his right hand much in the same way. That kind of punching style has worked for him against lesser fighters and older guys at the heavyweight level, but he’s going to be giving Wladimir a lot of openings for him to land a straight right hand or one of his left hooks. It’s too late for Haye to change his style fighting now, and he lacks the reach to land his punches in the conventional way.