Just making this poll as this seems to come up a lot. People seem to go nuts over the fact that David Haye was going to pretty much get a chance at a Heavy belt straight away like he had no right to. But People seem to forget that Roy Jones jr went straight up to Heavy weight and took a belt from Ruiz yet nobody seems to moan about that. Despite the fact that Roy never faught any heavy (Haye has twice) before the fight with Ruiz. Dont get me wrong. I am not knocking Roy (he is one of my all time favorite fighters) but the opinion on here just stinks of double standards.
Neither had earned the right at a shot but in both cases they could generate more money for the champion than anyone else could.
It depends on how you look at it, remember their are 2 ways to look at each situation. Roy jones, when he fought ruiz, was looking UNSTOPPABLE. Like an ATG noone could fathom anyone beating him at 1 point. He was number 1 p4p superstar. Since he was only 15 pounds away from heavy and a undisputed proven champ, i could see how he would get his shot. David haye, is the undisputed cruiser weight champion. He runs his mouth, and brutally knocks people out. Hes a heavy that boils down to cruiser weight in reality. Because of that fact, even though roy was never at cruiser, i beleive he desered the shot more. face the facts.... 1. DAVID is a small/mid sized heavy, BOILING DOWN to fight cruisers. 2. Roy was a big PPV attraction at the time, is guarenteed to make good money if the fight is big enough. HAye on the other hand, thinks he is atsch but he isnt really the superstar his ego tells him that he is. :yep At first I thought Haye was more entitled, but now I think that roy is after a close look. Keep in mind, while haye is the only one that fought heavys, he has beaten a never was, and a washed up coulda been. Both nobodies
Mate the point that i was trying to make is that neither one of them qualifyed for a shot. But if they got it fair play to them. If your a big enough draw that is all that really matters. And besides there is no real gatekeeper in the heavys at the moment. Anyone can claim a shot at the moment as the division is littered with substandard competition.
They evenly deserve a chance. Guys like Moorer and Holyfield made the transition quite well. Moorer practically came up the same way Haye did, knocking out everyone but one light heavyweight. Haye is what 21-1 with 20 of which coming by knockout? As far as the question goes, RJJ was more popular and was P4P number 1 at the time. Haye is closer in size for what a heavyweight should be and was the undisputed Cruiserweight champ before fighting Barett. I think it's even IMO.
Roy was the biggest fighter on the planet at the the time, so he had much more right. Neither earned it in the heavyweight ranks, but Roy had more right to fight because of his status. Haye got a fight because of his mouth.
probably jones as he was fighting the worst paper HW champion in history. haye is going for the real champion.
Fighters that come up from lighter weight classes are usually more talented/skilled than their natural Heavyweight counterpart. Fighters like Jones, Toney, Holyfield, Moorer, all were able to make the transition and were able to win a title/titles in the 90's, aside from Toney who beat Ruiz in 05, only to have his WBA title stripped from him because of a failed test for a preformance enhancing drug.
Being a champion, is enough to let anyone deserve a shot. There is so much president of champions moving up (or down) in weight and getting immediate title shots. I don't see the big deal.
In Jones' case, it was a kind of fight that comes around once in 50-100 years... I mean a guy that was boxing at 154 right before his Pro debut and eventually faces a legit top 10 guy as a heavyweight (225lbs), that's an event in its own right....
The difference is Roy Jones won so he got a lot of credit. But Haye will loose and Wlad or Vitali wont get any credit because people will just say Haye was never any good cause he didnt do anything at heavyweight.