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Haye Flirting With Disaster Again?
With this week’s collapse of David Haye’s long awaited challenge to his hated rival, the British and Commonwealth Cruiserweight Champion Mark Hobson, the flamboyant London area man has gone searching for a suitable replacement. What his handlers turned up however could prove to be lethal to the still young career of the brash Englishman.
It’s easy to forget that the seriously talented Haye has only made fourteen appearances in the ring as a paid professional. The fluidity and speed of his movements belie that of the average cruiserweight and there’s no denying his power as all thirteen of his victories have come within the distance.
But it’s Haye’s judgement at times that give cause for concern and may ultimately short circuit his chances to become one of the UK’s best bets for future world level success. The soon to be twenty five year old has gone on record as claiming to have not rated Mark Hobson at all and prepared for their scheduled bout accordingly, by his own admission spending more time spinning LPs in Miami than training to face the British and Commonwealth champion.
The man from Orpington, England has already suffered a setback, in large part likely due to his long rumored lax training habits. In September of last year Haye put IBO Cruiserweight Champion Carl Thompson under intense pressure that had the then still very dangerous thirty nine year old on the verge of being completely overwhelmed until the heavy handed younger man ran out of gas after only a few rounds. From that point on Thompson turned the fight around and stopped Haye in the fifth. To be fair, Haye was only participating in his tenth pro contest but a more thorough training coupled with a sounder strategy could very well have
paid off handsomely for the lanky puncher.
Given Haye’s lack of preparation and his only having gone past four rounds once (5th round stoppage at the hands of Thompson) it’s a real gamble putting him in with seasoned Italian veteran Vincenzo Rossitto, 30-3-2 (17), next weekend in Huddersfield. The twenty nine year old Rossitto is no pushover, having won the vacant IBF Intercontinental Cruiserweight belt in July with a fifth round demolition job on respected Danish campaigner Jesper Kristiansen. The man from Siracusa in Sicily had only lost two European Champions, Alexander Gurov (on an injury) and Pietro Aurino as well as undefeated Polish prospect Krzysztof Wlodarczyk.
But, it’s the way that Rossitto lost those bouts which is making this a winnable gamble for the British cruiserweight. The Italian was stopped during all of his losses and Haye is nothing if not dedicated to landing a knockout blow early in his contests.
This bout should be very interesting as it may very well provide a window into David Haye’s future prospects, at least on the European level.
