How does David Haye in his prime do against the following fighters? Oleksandr Usyk (At Heavyweight) Alexander Povetkin Mairis Briedis (At Cruiserweight) Steve Cunningham (At Cruiserweight) Tomasz Adamek (At Cruiserweight)
Loses to Usyk every time and beats Cunningham every time. The others could go either way given that Haye rarely fought up to his full potential. Povetkin is obv tougher than Breidis.
To beat Alexander Povetkin you had to be a true heavyweight and a rather good one at that or at least be fortunate to catch him past prime. You didn’t need to be these things to beat Haye. Carl Thomson and Tony Bellews sufficed
I think he loses to Usyk, Povetkin, at Heavyweight. At Cruiserweight seeing how much trouble Haye had vs Mormeck, Fragomeni, i think Breidis's pressure might be able to catch up to Haye late on in the fight. And lastly i'd favour Haye over Adamek, Cunningham.
Loses to Usyk obviously. Probably loses to Povetkin, who'd weather a few hairy early rounds to grind Haye down over the stretch. Probably late TKO. Loses to Briedis who was just too skilled and all round solid to fall for Haye's ambush tactics. Hard to say how he does vs Cunningham and Adamek. Those are both winnable fights for him but also fights where he could get stopped. I think a lot of people forget how dangerous Adamek was at CW. Very hard hitting guy with a lot of speed, a solid chin, crazy heart and a solid package of skills. If Haye did beat him it wouldn't be a cakewalk by any means, and likely involve several knockdowns a piece in what might have turned into a FOTY affair. Cunningham is a hard one to predict as well. Cunningham had greater skills than Haye but was prone to switching off and getting clipped. It's possible Haye gets to him and stops him in a fight he's losing on the cards. Shame neither of these two ever happened really.
I don’t see the stupidity in it. Povetkin fought on close terms with a very good cruiserweight and STILL won while Haye was BEATEN by two lesser cruiserweights. Povetkin was ranked by ring magazine for over a decade while Haye barely had any wins at heavy and most of which against garbage. Pretty clear actually
Huck was a prime fight. Haye’s body was finished for Bellew, hence injuries. Thompson was when Haye was a prospect. These are not fair comparisons.