Haye vs. Ruiz: Does David’s stock go down if he struggles to win?

By Boxing News - 03/10/2010 - Comments

Image: Haye vs. Ruiz: Does David’s stock go down if he struggles to win?By Scott Gilfoid: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) had to fight hard to earn a 12 round decision over former World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev in their bout last November in Germany. Haye blamed his poor performance on an injury to his right hand which apparently occurred early in the fight. Haye also says he boxed Valuev to avoid getting hit with any of his shots.

Few of Haye’s loyal fans are blaming him for his dull fight with Valuev and have given him a free pass for that fight. But in his next fight, Haye will be facing 38-year-old John Ruiz next month in England. Ruiz, 6’2”, doesn’t have the size or the power for him to be an opponent that Haye should fight in the same cautious manner that he did with Valuev you would think.

But if Haye does end up using a lot of movement and throwing few punches like he did in his fight with Valuev, will boxing fans start being turned off towards Haye? It sometimes takes awhile for fans to completely sour on a fighter. Look at IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. After dominating the heavyweight division for the past five years, he has very few fans, at least in the United States. The reason is because of his cautious safety first style of fighting.

Haye even has made jokes about Klitschko’s style of fighting, and says that he’ll be the opposite of Klitschko by fighting in an exciting manner. Haye didn’t look at all exciting in his fight with Valuev. Will Haye start to turn away boxing fans, even the loyal ones, if he continues to stink up the joint like he did in his fight with Valuev? It could very well be.

Haye wants to be an exciting fighter, you can tell that, but his chin is the problem. He’s got a glass jaw and is susceptible to getting knocked out by anyone who remotely can slug a little bit. Monte Barrett, not a big puncher by any means, had Haye down on the canvas in their fight in 2008. We don’t know what Valuev might have done to Haye, because David ran the entire fight and then afterwards made excuses about having a hurt hand.

I hope Haye doesn’t make excuses about a hand injury in the Ruiz fight if he’s unable to get him out of there. Ruiz is going to be trying to force Haye to fight. He’s already seen that Haye doesn’t react well to pressure, so he’s planning on getting Haye backing up by walking him down. Haye seemed deathly afraid to throw combinations in his fight with Valuev.

I expect that to be the case again when he fights with Ruiz. If Haye throws his looping Haymaker shots, Ruiz is going to land something and connect to Haye’s weak chin. Once Haye starts getting hit, it’s anyone’s guess what might happen. Haye looks tough with his bodybuilder physique, but a lot of that muscle seems to be useless weight lifting muscle rather than muscle he can use. It makes Haye slow as a turtle when he moves around and causes him to look really top heavy.



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