Does Haye have the potential to become bigger than Hatton?

Don't know about that, does he have a big fan base for attendance, I guess if he brings a fight back to o2 after beating Valuev then we'll see if he does. In terms of media coverage I think hes getting a great amount of publicity but I doubt this is bigger than the Mayweather Hatton fight. I think Valuev is the perfect fight to sell, because people see the size difference.

 

I think this is a one off, but it does have the potential to be built upon for Haye if he's successful.

I don't think he'll ever reach Hatton's heights nevermind surpass him, he'll never do the ticketsales from 9k to 50k and he'll never do over a million buys.

 

Don't think so. Hatton was able to pull in the football fans and pissheads but I think Haye is a bit too keen to do things his own way to go down that route.

If he does win and defends in the UK he's going to be pretty big but the numbers going over to US to watch Hatton were once in a lifetime.

If he managed to fight on terrestrial TV though I think he'd be better known by the general public though.

 

Haye is a sick joke. He belongs in pro wrestling.

 

Good thread. i think he can.

 

If Haye wins this it will propel him to superstardom, then its how his first mandatory defense is handled against the quiet man, but if he is able to get another shot and turn up for a fight against the Klitschko's I could see this being bigger than Hatton Mayweather

 

No i don't think so, most of the interest in this fight is being sold on the back of a 7'2" Russian.

 

He needs to put some more weight on to be bigger than Hatton.

 

The problem Haye has is that its not just as a simple as winning a couple of big fights and becoming massively popular. Fanbases/ interest in a fighter is generated on the way up when they are fighting 4, 5 times a year for British/ Euro titles, not once they have "made it". Hatton was pulling in 15,000, 20,000 crowds and headlining primetime TV Saturday night cards way before Zoo, thats where the interest was gradually generated.

Barring some freak Ali-Frazier type trilogy, theres no way Haye-Kilt will match Hatton-Mayweather in this country. It MAY be close because in PPVs because it won't have to fight the time difference of a 3am start but even then I doubt it.

 

:good

 

Agree with this post.

I think Haye has the potential to be better known by the British public (he promotes better than Hatton, fighting in the HW division which is historically the most followed by general public and he speaks very well) and therfore bigger in this sense but he will never build as large a hardcore fan base as Hatton.

Part of the reason Hatton was so well followed was that he didn't lead a flashy life style in terms of where he lived etc. so the Bitish public could associate with him. Haye likes to live a super star lifestyle - people may still grow to like him but they won't be as inclined to support him at live fights and fill his pockets.

To the fans Hatton was like a mate you go to support. Haye is a TV star.

I just hope for British boxing that Haye can go on to be as successful as this fight build up suggests he can be.

 

I don't think so.

It would take a lot of pork pies for Haye to be as big as Hatton is currently.

 

How big would this fight be if Haye was fighting Ruiz, Chambers, Arreola etc for the title? Talking to friends who are (VERY!!) casual fans it seems to me a (the?) major point of interest in the fight is the size of Valuev rather than David Haye.