by Neil Thompson – April 25, 2006 – David Haye, the cruiserweight contender from South London, England is considered the UK’s most promising prospect. A talented amateur who at the age of 21 captured a silver medal at the 2001 world championships, losing only to the Cuban favourite in the final. Over a year later he turned professional and was tipped for great things. At 6’ 3’’ tall, David Haye is a big cruiserweight. He has awesome one punch knockout power, he has impressive speed, nice footwork, a good array of punches and a flashy style. He is also a man with a plan. Already struggling with the 200lb weight limit, the plan involves winning a legitimate cruiserweight alphabet title as soon as possible before moving up to heavyweight to take on the big boys. Since Britian has only produced a handful of world class heavyweights over the last 100 years, there are heavy expectations resting of Haye’s young shoulders.
After turning professional David ripped through his first 9 opponents by stoppage, none lasting beyond 4 rounds. For his 10th fight he took on a huge jump in class against the fading but still world rated Arthur Williams, a fight which was considered a premature move for a novice like Haye.. However on the 12th of May 2004 Haye destroyed Williams within 3 rounds and Haye hardly even broke a sweat. For David’s 11th fight his manager Adam Booth arranged another jump in class with a fight against a true world class operator Mr Carl Thompson. Although older and slower than he used to be, Carl Thompson was still dangerous, recently he had upset Sebastian Rothman with a come from behind stoppage after taking a beating from the South African. This was another huge jump in class for Haye but he was confident he could stop Thompson in the same manner as Johnny Nelson and Ezra Sellers had done previously. The fight in September 2004 was a classic. David jumped on Thompson from the opening bell, hitting the ageing warrior with multiple power shots. Thompson’s legs wobbled from time to time but Thompson is a warrior and had been in this position many times before and survived to knock the other guy out and once again Carl would do the same. As David tired, Thompson went on the attack flooring David for the second time in his professional career. David got up but was on wobbly legs, Thompson seized the moment and went for the kill, prompting David’s cornerman to throw in the towel. It was all over in the 5th round. It was a bold move by David’s team, moving him into world class in only his 11 pro fight, a move that backfired. To David’s credit he took the defeat like a man and put it all down to a learning experience.
4 months later David Haye was back in the ring and in his 16th fight he won the European title with a one round knockout of the contender Alexander Gurov guaranteeing him a top ten WBC ranking. On the face of it this result was a remarkable victory until you realised that Gurov had been stopped in the first round on several previous occasions as well. His first defence was against the unbeaten Lasse Johansen who had given Haye a very tough fight as an amateur. Haye won on a premature 8th round TKO in another tough fight. His record now stands at 16-1-0 with 16 KO’s and he has the world at his feet. David is already struggling with the cruiserweight limit of 200 lb’s and will probably leave the cruiserweights within the next 18 months to campaign at heavyweight.
So where will David Haye’s career pan out from here? It is my opinion that in terms of power, speed, style and ability, David is already the best cruiserweight out there but there remains huge question marks over his chin and stamina. This weakness has already cost him his first defeat to a 40 year old warhorse in Carl Thompson. Since then his toughest test has come from Lasse Johnasen who gave David a tough argument. From watching David Haye fight it is obvious he is a huge fan of Roy Jones and has tried to copy his hands down style. This was partly responsible for his first defeat as it left his questionable chin open for attack. Haye has been down a couple of times as a professional, a couple of times as an amateur and by all accounts a few times in sparring. Haye has yet to go beyond 8 rounds and ever since his collapse against Thompson his stamina is also questionable. Can Haye become the worlds best cruiserweight, well right now he’s not even the best in his own country. Johnny Nelson is the number one in the UK and possibly the number 2 in the world behind O’Neil Bell. David Haye has also yet to prove his superiority over Welshman Enzo Maccrinelli. So despite being a top ten contender, David has a long way to being considered the best cruiserweight in the world.
As David has pointed out many times, the cruiserweight division is only a temporary division for the talented Londoner. Like the Evander Holyfield and Juan Carlos Gomez before him, David Haye’s ambitions lie in the heavyweight division. The worlds greatest ever cruiserweight, Evander Holyfield went on to be an all time great heavyweight but upto now he has been the exception. All other cruiserweights have failed. The greatest cruiserweight since Holyfield was Gomez, this talented Cuban also attempted to move upto heavyweight but was knocked out by an average heavyweight in Yanqui Diaz. Comparisons with Haye can be made with Britains other cruiserweight turned heavyweight, the crazy, unpredictable Herbie Hide. A hugely talented cruiserweight with a slightly similar style to Haye.
Hide had great speed and impressive power and had limited success at heavyweight winning the WBO title before being stopped by Riddick Bowe, winning the WBO title again before being crushed by Vitali Klitsckho. Herbie Hide main weakness was he couldn’t take a big heavyweight punch and as Herbie got older his weak jaw became more of a hindrance, I fear this could be the same fate for David Haye. Upto now David has shown he can be hurt and dropped by cruiserweights nevermind heavyweights. David certainly has the skill to rise through the heavyweight ranks and like Herbie Hide before him, he will probably enjoy a certain degree of success, but having watched Wladimir Klitsckho stop Chris Bryd recently, I don’t think Haye would take the punches of Wladimir or Samuel Peters or even a Hasim Rahman. If David had an airtight defence he may get away with it, but David’s hands down style will leave his chin exposed. As I said earlier David has copied the style of Roy Jones but David isn’t a defensive genius like Roy Jones and is easier to hit. Could David beat ANY of the current cruiserweight champions? ….. yes, could he beat any of the current heavyweight champions? …. no, in my opinion. Wladimir Klitsckho would destroy him within 5 rounds, Rahman would grind him down and stop him late, Valuev would just roll over him and Liakhovic would proberbly take him out too. I know it’s a bit too early on to right off David’s chances and I’m well aware that I’m not giving him the chance to mature into a full heavyweight, but you cannot improve a weak chin. I will not be convinced he has a chin fit for a heavyweight until he faces a world class boxer with a world class punch who can take Haye into the trenches and into the later rounds. Until that day I am not confident David Haye will be a force at heavyweight. I hope I am wrong but that’s the way I see it.
It is interesting to see David Haye team up with Frank Maloney. Maloney was Lennox Lewis’ first promoter and helped guide Lewis to the heavyweight championship of the world. David Haye certainly has the skill, the power, the speed and the style to become a world champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight. He also has the personality and the good looks to become a superstar in this sport, but without the chin or stamina all this will amount to nothing in the long run. Hopefully my concerns are unfounded but right now all I can see is a more pleasant version of Herbie Hide.