05.05.09 – By Ryan Williamson – After watching Ricky Hatton’s recent loss to Manny Pacquiao I started to think that maybe David Haye is being unfairly written off in some quarters (even I have my doubts),. Before the Pacquiao Hatton fight conventional wisdom and a bit of patriotism led me to believe that Hatton would be too big and strong for Manny. Although I considered the Pacman’s speed I felt he was untested above 130 due to his destruction of David Diaz and his win over a weight drained Oscar De La Hoya. The one major flaw in my theory? Speed kills!
While smaller than Wladimir Klitschko, David Haye will be faster than any man Wlad has ever faced. Couple that with the immense power and movement David Haye possesses and he has a lot better of a chance than I had given him to begin with. I think most observers have saw the way David Haye has insulted the Klitschko brothers and expect him to pay for being so out of line. But if David Haye has pushed the right buttons in Klitschko and then comes into the fight and instead of attacking Wlad early sticks and moves he could frustrate the big man into taking a chance he wouldn’t normally take. Enter speed and power. David Haye hurts Wlad and he retreats into his shell and Haye wins the fight. David Haye is not stupid enough to think he can just go into the centre of the ring from the start of round 1 and trade blows. He has a game plan. The first part of his game plan is to get Klitschko angry, to try and make him change his usual gameplan and then to show him a different David Haye than what he expected. This same scenario occurred when Muhammad Ali fought Sonny Liston and after watching Pacquiao destroy Hatton so easily I can’t see why it isn’t possible for David Haye.
Many think that Klitschko will just bide his time until he gets the opportunity to knock out Haye. I am not saying David Haye is iron chinned by any stretch of the imagination but the only fight David Haye lost was when he ran out of gas against Carl Thompson he was getting hit with big shots but was not knocked out. I think boiling down to cruiserweight had as big of an effect on his punch resistance as his “weak chin” yet Wlad has been genuinely KO’d 3 times so I don’t see this fight being as straightforward for Klitschko as it appeared when the fight was made.
I am not saying the fight will definately play out in this way. It’s just after what I saw at the weekend I can see a way for the Hayemaker to pull it off.