David was a good fighter, natural puncher, carried his power from cruiserweight (where he was at his best) somewhat to heavyweight but when you look at his HW career overall, you'd likely conclude he was overrated a bit at heavyweight generally and massively so by much of the boxing media and legions of forum fans back in the day, around 2010, 2011 or so.
I wouldn't go as far as to say Haye was incredibly overrated but, other than that, this^ is a fair assessment of him. Haye was a great self-promoter and seemed to catch the spirit of the times, being able to generate interest in his fights - particularly against UK rivals - and eventually talk himself into the big one, with Wlad. That's not to say he didn't have the tools to deliver exciting KOs, which was key to him demonstrating some substance to his chit-chat. But, I always thought he was a bit of a fair-weather puncher, meaning all the conditions had to be precisely right for him to deliver that 'Hayemaker'. Either way, it worked to spread his appeal within the casual fan base. I guess he made a fair bit of money off a relatively small number of fights, as well, due to his wider appeal in the UK. So, perhaps more a smart opportunist, who had the balls to walk the walk - even if the ultimate destination turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.
Well I certainly got caught up in the hype of his amazing offence. And thus probably overcorrected to the point of not giving him the credit he deserves, hence my soundbite.
Haye had a ton of potential at heavyweight, but the constant injuries and ring inactivity pretty much capped his potential. An injury free and motivated Haye definitely would've had a shot at beating Fury, but by 2013 Haye was already falling apart, so Fury would've crushed him. This why I still can't believe people thought Haye had any chance against Bellew in 2018, since Haye from 2009-2015 had one too many surgeries.