By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye’s first round knockout victory over #10 WBA Mark De Mori (30-2-2, 26 KOs) last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, UK, has earned him a new #9 ranking with the World Boxing Association, according to Sky Sports.
If Haye is to move up higher in the WBA’s rankings in a hurry, then he’ll need to try and get one of the names ranked above him to fight. I seriously doubt that will happen unless Haye can come up with some big cash to make it worthwhile for one of these top contenders to come over to the UK to face him.
I think Luis Ortiz would face Haye in a second, but somehow I doubt that Haye will want to tangle with the dangerous Cuban talent. I mean, it’s one thing beating a hand-picked fringe contender like De Mori and then bragging about it, but it’s quite another thing to take on someone that is for real like Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz. As such, I’m not holding my breath waiting for Haye to try and beat a talent like Ortiz.
The WBA’s new adjusted rankings as follows:
1. Luis Ortiz
2. Lucas Browne
3. Wladimir Klitschko
4. Shannon Briggs
5. Alexander Ustinov
6. Fres Oquendo
7. Andrey Fedesov
8. Antonio Tarver
9. David Haye
10. Erkan Teper
“The Hayemaker is back. Once I land, whoever is standing in front of me is going to sleep,” Haye said to IFL TV.
Haye is gloating a little too much about this win. He really needs to put things in perspective and realize why he had such an easy time in there. Like I mentioned previously, De Mori is a fighter that was knocked out in one round by Australian journeyman John Wyborn (16-20-4, 7 KOs) in the past. If a guy like Wyborn was able to destroy De Mori in one round, then I don’t think Haye should be crowing about his victory.
If anything, he should be keeping it low key and realizing that he accomplished absolutely zero in terms of beating someone with talent. Now if Haye wants to really test his theory about no fighter being able to stand up to his punches, then he should go ahead and fight Luis Ortiz next. Let’s see how well Haye’s punches do against the 6’4″, 245lb Ortiz, who has tons of amateur experience and huge talent.
If Haye can blast out someone like Ortiz, then I can definitely understand him bragging about how powerful he is and such. But until then, you’ve got to realize that knocking out De Mori in one round means absolutely nothing, because like I said, he was stopped by Wyborn in just one round in the past as well. I don’t remember hearing Wyborn bragging about his victory afterwards.
It’s going to be interesting to see if the WBA will wait until Haye starts beating solid opposition before they push him up further in their top 15 rankings. My guess is Haye will likely continue to get pushed up in the WBA’s rankings even if he chooses to face nothing but fringe level contenders instead of talented contenders like Luis Ortiz.
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