By William Mackay: The recently retired Ricky Hatton thinks that former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is making a mistake if he chooses to retire at this point in his career instead of continuing on. Hatton thinks that Haye is capable of beating both of the Klitschko brothers if he’s at his best. Haye was soundly beaten by IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko by a one-sided 12 round decision a week ago in a fight that Haye looked limited and very amateurish.

“David is still the most exciting heavyweight,” Hatton said to thisislondon.co.uk. “He is capable of beating Wladimir and Vitali. I just don’t think it happened for him on that night.”

“It would be nice for him to go to America, re-establish himself over there and come back and get a rematch over here with Wladimir or fight Vitali.”

Hatton doesn’t say how many fights that he thinks Haye needs to take before he’s ready to take on Wladimir again or fight Vitali. Looking at how he fought against Wladimir, I’d say Haye needs at least three good fights and perhaps a new trainer who can teach him how to fight with a better pro style. The hit and run style that Haye’s been using for most of his career won’t get the job done against the Klitschkos. That’s a style that limited Haye’s punch output dramatically and puts too much emphasis on Haye getting lucky with one pot shot.

Haye does well against shorter heavyweights without any foot or hand speed with that kind of pot shot style of fighting, but against the gargantuan Klitschko brothers, he’ll get picked apart every time. Wladimir’s trainer Emanuel Steward said that preparing for Haye was simple because he’s limited and has bad mechanics. Steward didn’t seem to be just saying this to get back at Haye for all the trash talking he did before the fight.

Steward sees Haye as someone that doesn’t know how to fight. For Haye to come back from this defeat and have a chance to beat the Klitschkos, he might have to get a new trainer. Booth’s hit and run style seems to have run it’s life and is no longer useful at this level. Haye would do well with it if he continues to fight older heavyweights like the ones he was fighting before the Wladimir fight, but against the younger heavyweights with talent, Haye has got to have something more advanced.