David Haye overated ?? Or underated

I don't think he is overrated.. The skill and power was clearly there. Underwhelming is the best word to describe him.
I guess he's underrated in the sense that people only talk about his Heavyweight career instead of his Cruiserweight career which he was clearly better in

 

My thoughts on him?

He was a tremendous talent, with some key limitations, that he was well aware of.

He was arguably the most dangerous puncher of his era, but he had a shallow gas tank, and he was injury prone.

What impressed me the most, was the way he blasted Chisorah, who nobody else seems to have been able to make a dent in!

In hindsight, I doubt that he would have beaten Fury, and he basically said the same thing himself!

 

Do you have the link for that?

 

Probably underrated. He went 12 with Vlad and he had great power. He was a little undersized at heavyweight. His durability was never the best, but his defense and right hand were good.

 

He was incredibly overrated.

Much of the apparent talent and slickness people read into him came from his speed and explosiveness (athletic traits) coupled with his generally poor opposition that made him look a lot better than he actually was. He was great at ambushing fighters a la Jean Pascal and often showed a lot of heart and aggression that was hugely crowd pleasing, but he was often shocking defensively, couldn't control pace or range, and tended to become very wild when he had fighters hurt.

Watching his struggles and eventual loss to an ancient Carl Thompson highlighted just how crude and sloppy Haye actually was. Granted, Haye was young and wanted to impress the audience with a quick stoppage, but even before he gassed out his punches were all over the place, sloppy haymakers and borderline slaps and hammerfists thrown with little craft or timing, lunging when he's in no position to land or smothering his shots. I've bookmarked a point at the end of the second round that demonstrates what I mean.

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That wasn't the only fight he looked poor in either. His struggles with Fragomeni a couple years later displayed many of the same flaws, sub-par jab, whiffing shots, terrible defence that led to a near fight ending cut etc. Watch this whole fight in its entirety if you haven't, and see just how vulnerable and generally average Haye looks throughout.

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Granted he beat Mormeck in a back and forth war, and for that he should be commended. But he never defended his titles or fought anyone remotely on that level again before moving up. And Mormeck was quite a few years past his best when Haye beat him, not to mention having already been KOed (in more impressive fashion) by O'Neil Bell several fights earlier. You can't put Haye on a pedestal without also doing the same to Mormeck and Bell, since Haye has no other impressive achievements on his CW roster, and while I respect both fighters I don't consider them untouchable talents at the weight class. Neither do I Haye.

His campaign at HW was an underwhleming disappointment. Whether that was due to legitimate injuries or Haye simply not wanting to test himself against any half-decent HW is irrelevant now, but the fact that his best win during this time was Dereck Chisora more or less says it all.

Could he have beaten Fury? Absolutely not, and anyone who thinks he could have needs to get a grip, frankly.

 

UNDERRATED. CLEARLY UNDERRATED

 

HE IS UNDERRATED BUT HE WOULD HAVE NOT BEATEN FURY, but Fury schooled wladimir so it is irrelevant, YES. FURY BEATS ANY VERSION OF WLADIMIR YES. HE BEATS HIS BROTHER THE ROBOT TOO.

 

Depends what rating we're giving him. He wasn't one of the all-time greats but wasn't terrible either.

He had some decent wins as a cruiser, KO'ing Mormeck on away soil was good. As someone else said his heavyweight career was underwhelming. Beat Valuev but shut out by Wlad, despite all his pre-fight hyperbole. When your best heavyweight win is probably Dereck Chisora, you know it's a paper thin resume. His fight with Audley Harrison is one of the most pathetic I've seen. He'll probably get mentioned in top cruiserweight lists (a fairly young and thin division), but overall I don't think he'll be that fondly remembered.

 

Haye was very good but not the best. He was dangerous because of his power but had vulnerabilities. I don't see him beating Fury. He was more dangerous as a cruiser.

 

His defence seemed to get better once he moved up to HW. At CW his defence was ass.

 

David Haye maybe the most overrated underrated British fighter of the modern era.

 

He was one of the best offensive talents of his generation. If he'd stayed at cruiserweight for a while longer I believe he could be in a comparable conversation with Holyfield and Usyk. Maybe not quite their level, but in the conversation.

There were also a lot of great fights at heavyweight that we never got to see either: Tomasz Adamek, Eddie Chambers, Robert Helenius. Maybe Sultan Ibragimov could have been coaxed out of retirement. That would have made him a serious legend in British boxing.

Instead the guy is mostly remembered as a front-runner who wasted half his breath on empty threats and the other half on excuses. He had the looks, talent, and charisma to be a huge sporting figure. Too bad we couldn't have grafted Henry Cooper's heart and ambition into Haye.

 

Possibly. He always struggled with the weight cuts though, and I think that would have affected his longevity. And he was always a punch or so away from getting put on his ass. Sooner or later he would have run into someone who would have KOed his ass.

Adamek would have been a good matchup at the time. Genuine fifty fifty. Chambers would have been a horrible matchup. Haye could have won but he'd have looked awful doing so. Helenius I see him beating, and Ibragimov I don't know. I think Iggy might have taken him.

 

I think he's probably rated about right overall.