David Haye stepping up from cruiserweight as Holyfield and facing the same opponents at heavy as the real deal. Where does Haye stumble first? Alex Stewart s in there, as is Mike dokes. Would he get past buster Douglas? Old Foreman, Holmes?
I think Haye would've lost few times before the Bowe fight. At CW 11-fight novice Haye would've been KO'd by Qawi, and maybe in the rematch, too At HW I'm not sure he beats Dokes, Douglas, Foreman or Holmes. At lest 1 of these fights he loses, maybe 2-3 He beats Tillis, Stewart, Rodriguez, outboxes that version of Thomas, beats Bert Cooper after being knocked down 1 or 2 rimes. Bowe beats Haye all the time, same with mid-90s Tyson and Lennox Lewis. Moorer could've gone either way. Mid 90s Mercer could've beaten Haye too. So against that opposition by 2000 when Holy was 37-4-1 Haye's record would be more like 32-10
That's a good post, mostly agree with it. Haye would have a number of losses against Holyfield's terrific opposition at HW. Haye is one of the most overrated fighters in recent years, probably one of the most overrated ever on message boards. He has dangerous right hand power and good handspeed, mainly with his right hand. Good handspeed, not great, because great handspeed consists of more than just single punches. His handspeed with combinations was relatively terrible, because he was so sloppy and not fluid at all. He would stun a guy and then get excited and throw about 5 rabbit punches. Haye could show good defense, as he did against Wlad, however it came at the expense of his offense. His shortcomings in chin and stamina would be costly.
Can't add much more to this. Haye never proved anything at heavyweight, or even at cruiseweight, to warrant the sort of fervid devotion many fans have towards him. He was fast, explosive, had heart at times, and consistently kept himself in peak condition, but that's about all I can say about him in the positive. His style was crude, frequently reactionary, his finishing abilities (like you rightly pointed out) were sloppy, and his gastank was often abysmal. He also (again, sorry for repeating you) simply couldn't transition between attack and defence smoothly; he was either hanging back and trying to look cute or coming forward like a rampaging idiot. Against Holy's opposition he'd start to notch up losses early, and that'd shatter his misplaced confidence in himself. After that I wouldn't be surprised to see him reduced to a sort of Herbie Hide figure, or at best a Tommy Morrison. Considering he wouldn't be getting any multi-million dollar paydays for his lacklustre efforts I also wouldn't be surprised if he packed it in.
Its a comparison of cruises moving to heavy. I'm certainly not saying Haye is anything like Holyfield, just to see what people thought of Haye against his opponents. I believe he defeat s holy s early heavy opponent s, he could defeat Douglas, but I'm inclined to think old Foreman beats him in the first defence.
there is no comparison. Haye is a man who "boasts" old ruiz and circus act valuev as his best wins. And to the matter of the topic, Haye would stand little chance against bona fide elite title contenders/holders, and would not be able to beat strong world class fighters. He has a chance against Holy's staybusys
There is much I agree with you on this. The early opposition, Stewart, dokes I see him beating. Douglas was in no shape for a hard fight and he'd be kod, but a in shape buster beats the crap out of Haye. The old Foreman in 91 over power s Haye in the middle round, even the ageing Holmes out point s him imo.
