While a good number of fight fans may well agree with David Haye’s prediction that he will “demolish” Tony Bellew when they meet in their heavily hyped fight next March, these same fans may raise an eyebrow at the former WBA heavyweight champ’s claim – made yesterday – that he would knock unbeaten star Anthony Joshua out inside three rounds.
Haye, aged 36 and having boxed just three rounds since the summer of 2012, says that everything he has seen of the reigning IBF heavyweight champ tells him he would not only have a short night against him but that he would even enjoy the fight, and have “fun.” Haye calls the 17-0(17) British star “robotic” and he insists there are just too many holes in his overall game for him to be able to cope with “The Hayemaker.”
“Every time I see him, I see holes I can exploit,” Haye said of AJ when speaking with The Mirror. “I see it in his footwork, in his punch evasion or lack of it, I see it in his speed of punches, tempo, rhythm – I see it in every part. All these things, I put in my computer of a brain and it tallies up to a two or three-round knockout – and there’s nothing he can do to counteract that. Not right now, not if he does what he has been doing. Everything I have seen tells me it’s a fun fight for me. It’s one I could actually enjoy and have a fun fight with someone who is as robotic as he is.”
Joshua has been compared to British hero Frank Bruno by some – including Saturday’s challenger Eric Molina – and Bruno’s lack of natural ability and of not being able to take a shot found him out. Joshua, an Olympic gold medal, is far more fluid and graceful than “Big” Frank, but is Haye right when he says the young champ is robotic? Joshua’s chin has thus far been tested just once, when Dillian Whyte cracked him a year ago. On that occasion, Joshua did do a little Bruno impression, as the punch stiffened him, his body becoming temporarily rigid.
But is today’s version of Haye fast and powerful enough to deal with Joshua’s own punches, his powerful and accurate jab in particular? Haye insists the fight would do record numbers if it were made and that all of Britain would be tuning in to find out.
But there is more immediate business to be dealt with first: Joshua against Molina in just four day’s time, and Haye against Bellew three months from now.