It definetly seems to be a lot stronger now, as I suspected it would be. Against his last three heavyweights, all three have landed but not affected Haye. You can look at these and say they aren't huge punchers, but if you're going to talk about the Mock fight as proof he can't take a shot, surely you have to admit that it has improved? It actually seems pretty solid now, thankfully. I was suprised he took a couple of clean shots from Macca so easily and since then, there's been no new reason to doubt his chin. Barrett, Valuev and now Ruiz, three genuine heavyweights, have landed on him without any effect His chin will never be really strong, but it's a lot better than it was. The size of his traps and neck has really gone up since the move to heavyweight, and not having to drain himself any more has had an effect too. At one point, you could make a case that it was truly horrible, but he has proved he can take a heavyweight shot.
Not weight drained anymore... SIMPLES and the reports of him being chinny are grossly exaggerated anyway...
It's a bit premature thinking Haye has a solid chin don't you think? In his two notable heavyweight bouts (Valuev and Ruiz), not once did we see him caught clean on the chin by a power shot. Valuev was too busy trying to chase him, whilst Ruiz, too reluctant to release an effective right hand, was simply a zombie following him in straight lines walking in to bombs. Yes he was on the end of a couple of shots, but them shots had f**ck all in them. Let's see how he deals with a guy who can cut off the ring, and pack some bad intentions behind his punches when he lands. In other words, put him in with Tua please :yep
They're still punches which would have hurt him at one point though. I agree that he hasn't taken any really hard punches, but he's been knocked down off lesser shots in the past. All we know at this point, is that it has improved and is now "solid" but it's impossible to say more than that.
What, so you expect him to prove his chin against Tua? And if he gets hurt or put down that means he can't take a solid dig? Not many peope would take Tua's punches, the fact is Valuev, Ruiz and Barrett have all landed power-punches and he's been fine.
I remember posting about Haye since his late cruiser days and it's always been the same: "Haye will be stopped by a top cruiser" then he beat Mormeck, so it became "Haye will be stopped by a hard hitting cruiser". After Macca that became "Haye will get knocked out by any heavyweight". After beating Barrett, that changed to "Haye will be knocked out by any big heavyweight". After Valuev, it changed to "Haye will be beaten by any heavyweight who lands in him". Now what? Tua? If he does get stopped by Tua or the Klitschko's, that's proof he has a shot chin? Haye's doubters are morons.
i've always maintained that Haye has had trouble taking temple shots rather than shots on his beard, I feel that his chin is probably about average at heavy. At cruiser he would struggle to hold a shot to the temple area which is often a sign of a fighter being weight drained or dehydrated.
My bad, maybe I should have worded my post a little better. Basically, I wasn't too impressed with his defence last night. Even a powerless and lethargic Ruiz found some success in landing shots, and lucky for Haye, those shots wouldn't had even knocked out a little girl. So with this in consideration, people are getting alittle ahead of themselves if they think his chin durable. I'd like to see how he copes with the attacks of a David Tua, who will be far more dangerous than a Ruiz. I wanna see if Haye can slip and evade Tua's shots, which will come in swift combos, and enough power to break down any defensive barriers Haye put up. That's all. I'm not asking him to take a flush shot from Tua, because we know he'll be put to sleep. I just want to see his defence tested.
well thats the thing, according to most here a year or so ago a little girls punch was supposed to knock haye out.
Ole Two gunz put him on his ass! It's simple folks, Haye can quiet his detractors by fighting at least one top ten guy, after all he is 'champ' now. Haye just hasn't proved himself a champ yet, maybe he will but with all the **** talking compared to what he has actually done. . . well.
The punch which put Haye down didn't bother him. The punch be took when he was down, was very clean yet he fought on. That showed no sign of weakness. That punch is actually quite relevant, when you consider what a similar punch did to Dirrell, yet Haye was fine.
