by James Slater – Some people don’t like David Haye, they say he talks too much, is crass at times and disrespectful to his opponents. Other people do like Haye, and they says he is charming, funny and he only uses trash-talk to sell tickets the way any other fighter proficient in that particular art form does. But one thing that all fans must agree on is the fact that Haye is capable of being brutally honest at times.
How else can one explain his recently admitting that he will “always have a suspect chin.” Imagine almost any other fighter saying something like that! Okay, some fans, or critics, will say the current WBA heavyweight champion has no option but to admit his chin is suspect, due to the way he has been decked and stopped in his pro career; but many a fighter would be loathe to admit to such a weakness..
Haye, in speaking with GQ magazine, says he knows all too well he will be labelled with the “chinny” tag for the rest of his career, as will any fighter who has been down.
“I’ll always have a suspect chin, anyone who’s been down always will have,” Haye said. “Apart from (the 5th-round TKO loss to Carl) Thompson I’ve never been on the canvas for longer than eight seconds. You can train yourself to take punishment.
“I realised (after the Thompson defeat) talent can only get you so far. I’d had ten easy fights before then and stopped them all. After a while you wouldn’t bother training. Now I have more hunger.”
Haye, reportedly set to face mandatory challenger and former WBA champ John Ruiz in May, possibly in Manchester, clearly realises he was given a wakeup call in the 2004 stoppage loss to the teak-tough Thompson. Maybe, in hindsight, the loss was a good thing for the former cruiserweight king? Despite “having more hunger,” however, Haye has been on the mat since – against Jean Marc Mormeck and later against Monte Barrett. But the exciting fighter is not one to make excuses for why he ended up on the floor. Indeed, this latest interview with Haye has proven most refreshing. We have enough examples of fighters talking tough, after all.
And in the sport’s long history we have also had many great fighters who achieved their greatness without the benefit of a concrete chin – the legendary Tommy Hearns for one example. The worst thing Haye could be is a fighter in denial about his less than granite chin, and going by the recent interview, in denial he definitely is not.
The big question, though, is can Haye avoid being hit and hurt if and when he gets in there with one of the Klitschko brothers? Haye boxed a near perfect, in-and-out, smart fight when he won the WBA belt from Nikolai Valuev, thus overcoming any chin issues. Can he do this again against either Vitali or Wladimir?