By Michael Collins: Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) figures to do well in his July 14th bout against the slow and plodding Dereck Chisora (15-3, 9 KO’s) as long as Haye chooses to move constantly. Haye doesn’t have the greatest chin, and he also has limited stamina for a grueling toe-to-toe type of bout against Chisora. But more importantly, the 210 pound Haye will be out-weighed by more than 30 pounds on July 14th.
That’s a lot of weight to be giving up, and I’m not sure that Haye will do well if he makes the mistake of standing in one place for two long. However, the good news is that Haye has shown the ability to move for 12 rounds continuously in fights against big heavyweights Wladimir Klitschko and Nikolay Valuev. Haye will have to use movement against Chisora as well, even though he’s not in the same league as Wladimir. Chisora has good power when he loads up for single shots from the outside. Surprisingly, in close Chisora isn’t all that big a puncher.
He tends to smother his own power when he gets near a guy. He obviously likes to fight inside because it gives him the chance to take rest breaks. Chisora has always been the better fighter in close, but that’s not saying much because he’s not anyone with good inside fighting ability. Vitali is an outside fighter, as is Robert Helenius. Chisora did have problems on the inside against Tyson Fury, who fights well in close because of his tendency to throw a lot of uppercuts. I would venture to say that Haye is a better inside fighter than Chisora and I think he’ll do well if he flurries on him like he did Audley Harrison and John Ruiz.
Haye has the better power and speed in this fight. The only thing he’s lacking is size, but that shouldn’t hurt Haye unless he decides to stop moving for prolonged periods of time.
At this point it’s hard to say how good Chisora’s chin is because he hasn’t faced a really good puncher yet. Vitali was out of breath the entire fight against him and never really landed anything hard. Helenius landed some big shots, but he hurt his right hand and shoulder early in the fight and didn’t land any real big punches either. Haye, with his power, he could expose a weak chin in Chisora if he opens up with a flurry early on.