By James Slater: Closer and closer we get to the British heavyweight grudge-match of the year, and still both David Haye and Dereck Chisora are confidently predicting a KO win. Neither guy is willing to blink; both men convinced they have what is needed to render the other unconscious.
But while Chisora, who says he will be “at his craziest” in this fight, says he will stop Haye in the 7th; Haye is predicting a much faster ending. Speaking with ESPN.com, the former cruiserweight king said the last time he felt as good as he does now was ahead of his unification battle with Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli – and Haye says we may well see a similar fight to the two-round annihilation job he did as a 200-pounder back in 2008.
“Unfortunately for Dereck he is fighting the best me,” Haye said. “He is fighting the best-ever Hayemaker. The best I have felt like this is before the Enzo Maccarinelli fight. You saw the result of that fight and I think you will see something similar..
“He is getting knocked out quick…..the harder he comes, the quicker he gets KO’d.”
Haye is certainly the puncher in this fight, and he has a big edge in experience and one in hand speed. But Chisora has, in my opinion at least, the better chin and the better stamina. Will Haye, putting all his faith in his raw power, go all out for the quick KO and run the risk of running out of steam if he doesn’t get it? Either way, whoever wins, I see a long, hard gruelling fight – not a short and sweet KO. Haye is going to have to work hard to get a win and vice-versa.
I wonder what makes Haye so sure he will take “Del Boy” out. Chisora has never been noticeably hurt in any of his pro fights, he has taken the best shots guys like Helenius, Fury and Sexton were able to catch him with – not to mention the big rights and lefts the mighty Vitali Klitschko tagged him with back in February – and he has shown no signs whatsoever of having a vulnerable chin. I think Haye is badly mistaken in thinking he will take him out like he did the notoriously unreliably-chinned Maccarinelli (of course, it could be argued that Haye ruined Enzo, and that all the subsequent KO defeats the Welshman went down to were due to his chin, and his confidence, being broken by Haye’s fists).
I’ve said before that Saturday’s big fight (one that has Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward excited) will get very interesting if Haye gets tired. Not having fought for a full year, Haye may well be “breathing out of his ass,” as Chisora put it, in the later rounds. If this is the case, and if Chisora is still coming at him, full of venom, we could have a brutal war on our hands.
Haye MAY get that quick KO, and in reality he may be absolutely banking on getting a quick win – but if he doesn’t? If this one comes down to heart, to who wants it more, my money will slide towards the corner of Chisora.