Meet the new WBA Heavyweight Champion of the world

[El Kabong]

...Haye should have committed himself to being a heavyweight. If he was walking around at 220-240 he should have been able to make 210-218 easy and fought as a heavyweight starting out and grown into it....but I'm thinking that his handlers figured that it may have exposed him early to too much danger and that's another reason to question the hell out of the guy.

Michael Moorer went from 175 to heavyweight and jumped right to heavyweight with no issue.

[DaxxKahn]

...Haye should have committed himself to being a heavyweight. If he was walking around at 220-240 he should have been able to make 210-218 easy and fought as a heavyweight starting out and grown into it....but I'm thinking that his handlers figured that it may have exposed him early to too much danger and that's another reason to question the hell out of the guy.

Michael Moorer went from 175 to heavyweight and jumped right to heavyweight with no issue.

David Haye is no where near the caliber a prime Michale Moorer is

[Spicoli]

...Haye should have committed himself to being a heavyweight. If he was walking around at 220-240 he should have been able to make 210-218 easy and fought as a heavyweight starting out and grown into it....but I'm thinking that his handlers figured that it may have exposed him early to too much danger and that's another reason to question the hell out of the guy.

Michael Moorer went from 175 to heavyweight and jumped right to heavyweight with no issue.

David Haye is no where near the caliber a prime Michale Moorer is

No doubt.Moorer was well polished,rounded.Shite I think that version of Cooper Double M faced takes Haye to the brink and could leave him there

[Conrad]

If Haye is the man to finally slay the giant then I think he deserves all the credit in the world, even from Lyle. Haye has no chin and shit stanima but you gotta hand it to him, he has great athleticism and power. Maybe not proven at HW yet but that doesn't mean he doesn't have it....

Another previous pic...

[johnmaff36]

....looks like David Haye's mom and Kimbo Slice had a one night stand

Ha! Now you know who he takes his boxing ability from. . . . . . . and it aint kimbo

[El Kabong]

If Haye is the man to finally slay the giant then I think he deserves all the credit in the world, even from Lyle. Haye has no chin and shit stanima but you gotta hand it to him, he has great athleticism and power. Maybe not proven at HW yet but that doesn't mean he doesn't have it....

Even if Haye beats Valuev, David will not have been in with a heavyweight power puncher and once again it'll bring up the issue of his chin. If David can not be bothered by Valuev's boxing then there may be hope for him in the division, but if he's stymied by Valuev's boxing then it's going to be a brutal run in the heavyweight division for him.

When in his career has David Haye shown he can stand in with a top 10 heavyweight?? His fight vs Bonin was too short and his fight vs Monte Barrett was sloppy as hell.

[HattonTheHammer]

I cant make my mind up about david haye...

He`s cocky...but he isnt american cocky, just very sure of himself

Either way every single fight fan who has any passion for this sport should be preying haye knocks the freak spark out and sends him into retirement!

[El Kabong]

I cant make my mind up about david haye...

He`s cocky...but he isnt american cocky, just very sure of himself

Either way every single fight fan who has any passion for this sport should be preying haye knocks the freak spark out and sends him into retirement!

#1 What do you mean by "American cocky"?

#2 What makes you think Haye is any better for the sport than Valuev, neither of them want to fight the best fighters in the division.

[HattonTheHammer]

I cant make my mind up about david haye...

He`s cocky...but he isnt american cocky, just very sure of himself

Either way every single fight fan who has any passion for this sport should be preying haye knocks the freak spark out and sends him into retirement!

#1 What do you mean by "American cocky"?

#2 What makes you think Haye is any better for the sport than Valuev, neither of them want to fight the best fighters in the division.

(1) - he doesnt jump around doing silly dances, singing silly songs and doing his upmost to intimidate his opponent ala:Mayweather, Ali x million

(2) - David isnt an out of shape russian monster who is incapable of knocking an opponent out and would much rather spend 12rounds pouring a jab over his much smaller opponent rather than just going toe to toe with him and knocking him the f*ck out!

[El Kabong]

1. He doesn't? He might not sing but he certainly goes all out trying (and I stress TRYING) to intimidate/humiliate his opponents

2. David might not seem like he'll stand there and eat the jab all day long but his style is going to make it very difficult for him to get around it. He was able to do what he did vs Monte Barrett because Monte Barrett is not a good fighter. Haye can be in the best shape ever but his style will not translate well into the heavyweight division.

[rjj tszyu]

I think he ended up as a cruiser because he was young.

He had to stop boxing as a light heavy in the amatuers when he hit his twentys, couldn't make the weight anymore.

I think he's been out growing cruiser for a while now, but the closer he was getting to belts/unification etc the longer he was going to stay in that division. Might as well see the job through when you're almost there.

You've hit the nail on the head there!

[rjj tszyu]

1. He doesn't? He might not sing but he certainly goes all out trying (and I stress TRYING) to intimidate/humiliate his opponents

2. David might not seem like he'll stand there and eat the jab all day long but his style is going to make it very difficult for him to get around it. He was able to do what he did vs Monte Barrett because Monte Barrett is not a good fighter. Haye can be in the best shape ever but his style will not translate well into the heavyweight division.

Out of interest Lyle, how many Haye fights have you actually seen?

[HattonTheHammer]

1. He doesn't? He might not sing but he certainly goes all out trying (and I stress TRYING) to intimidate/humiliate his opponents

2. David might not seem like he'll stand there and eat the jab all day long but his style is going to make it very difficult for him to get around it. He was able to do what he did vs Monte Barrett because Monte Barrett is not a good fighter. Haye can be in the best shape ever but his style will not translate well into the heavyweight division.

the jurys out, ive no idea how he`ll manage at heavy because of the fact he has in his entire career never been in with genuine class

I`ll make my mind up once he finally has the balls to fight a klitschko and not run rings around a guy who couldnt do a somersault if his life depended on it!

[El Kabong]

I've seen enough of him to know that he fancies himself to be a bigger Roy Jones Jr. and he doesn't have the speed or reflexes to pull it off.

These are the Haye fights I have seen: Barrett, Bonin, Fragomeni, Mormeck, Thompson, Maccarinelli, and Gurov.

Haye is more in control when he is backing up and trying to counter, when he attacks and goes forward he's wild and off balance. Haye is also more open on defense when he's backing up.

That's just what I see, maybe I'm not seeing what you want me to see but I see Haye throwing big punches 1 or 2 at a time, putting all his weight behind them and that tires you out, I know because when I boxed it tuckered me out pretty quick. With the defense Haye has he won't be long for the boxing world if he doesn't keep his left up, because the guys at heavyweight have longer arms, they are taller, and they have more power than the cruiserweights Haye has fought. If Haye wants to do well in the heavyweight division he'll fight more like Holyfield and catch/roll with punches and counter rather than laying back and waiting for his opponent to overshoot or come up short with punches.

[AdamGB]

I think he ended up as a cruiser because he was young.

He had to stop boxing as a light heavy in the amatuers when he hit his twentys, couldn't make the weight anymore.

I think he's been out growing cruiser for a while now, but the closer he was getting to belts/unification etc the longer he was going to stay in that division. Might as well see the job through when you're almost there.

You've hit the nail on the head there!

And personally I think that it's ludicrous to suggest that cruiser weights are simply taking refuge there and avoiding light heavy or heavy weight...

on average most weight classes have a range of 6-7 pounds.

Cruiserweight has a range of 15 pounds... 15 pounds, twice that or more of most other divisions... it's insane to suggest that out of a range of 15 pounds, that fighters only box there to take refuge from heavyweight and light heavyweight and don't just naturally fall there.

It also strikes me as contradictory to say elsewhere that cruisers like david haye etc are too small to make good heavyweights and then criticise them for not fighting at heavyweight from the start of their career.