Was Haye the most dangerous cruiser of all time?

Haye is one of the greatest CW champs in history.

Probably one of the most dangerous as well.

But not THE.

 

Haye isn't a top 10 cruiserweight.

 

If you were dumb enough to go right at Haye then yeah he was hella dangerous as he was a natural counter puncher with genuine heavyweight KO power.

But the most dangerous, that's hard to say as it's a subjective opinion and what defines most dangerous? Power alone? Combination of power and speed? Is there a skill element as well? Far to vague a term to have any kind of definitive answer.

Holyfield I think overall was a better offensive machine. While he didn't have Haye's power he hit hard enough at cruiser and his speed and combinations, combined with the work rate he could set was brutal.

Carl Thompson for sheer one punch KO out of the blue power you could argue was super dangerous as he could be one punch from being KO'ed and then put you to sleep. He of course beat a green Haye at the end his career.

Kudryashov for a while looked scary as hell before people found out he chin was fragile and he only had a gas tank that could get you to the bottom of the road.

 

Exactly.

 

That's only cos he's retired and injured.

 

David Haye was a very good cruiserweight in his prime and also a good heavyweight for a spell. CW was his best weight division.
He was a dangerous offensive fighter and puncher especially at CW, so one of the more exciting cruiser's out there imo, but not necessarily THE most dangerous.

I would think Lebedev might be pretty high up on any list too. Holyfield of course, Jirov for a while. Must remind myself of some those champs from the 90's and early 2000's and watch some bouts from that time.

 

David Haye being a top 3 atg at the weight tells you all you need to know about the division. After moving the limit from 190 to 200 it went from a good idea to a hiding ground for scared heavyweights

 

Enzo "on his back" Mac was one of the must watch glass cannons

 

Haye was very dangerous, explosive and powerful. Did really well at HW as well. But overall Holyfield and Usyk are better.

 

I reckon he was very dangerous.. if you were locked in a room with him.

Have to say that Kell Brook would be far more dangerous in that situation.

 

David Gaye fanboy alert

 

Is he? I'd say he gets overrated if anything. People seem to automatically assume he's a top three CW based on very little evidence, while also ascribing all sorts of skills and qualities to him which he never really demonstrated in the ring against anyone worth talking about. He frequently struggled against fighters a man of his supposed calibre never should have, and often needed his power to bail him out of situations. His fight against Giacobbe Fragomeni is a prime example. While Fragomeni could be awkward he wasn't some offensive tank that should have been able to bust Haye up the way he did. The fact that he did so shows that perhaps Haye wasn't quite so skilled as his fans like to believe.

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Haye had a lot of speed and explosiveness and could detonate shots on you out of the blue, but he also had bad lulls in fights where it looked like he had no idea what to do, or just kind of let himself get outworked. He was dangerous in the way that any ambush fighter with power is dangerous, in that you had to keep your wits about you, but a fighter like Jirov or Dorticos would just throw non-stop junk punches at you, Briedis would bust you up with combos, Gassiev would methodically smash up your ribs and rip uppercuts through you guard, Huck would randomly explode with crazy caveman punches to the back of your head. Lots of CWs were and are dangerous in different ways.

As for Usyk vs Haye, I'd bet the farm on Usyk. Haye wouldn't know what hit him.