Holyfield queries Haye experience By Ben Dirs This content is protected Haye (right) is giving away a massive weight and height advantage Evander Holyfield has questioned David Haye's heavyweight credentials ahead of the Londoner's bout against WBA champion Nikolay Valuev in November. Like Haye, Holyfield was an undisputed cruiserweight champion before moving up to claim the heavyweight crown. Unlike Haye, who has had just one tune-up bout at heavyweight, Holyfield had six before fighting for a world title. "We're different, I didn't have one fight and then get my opportunity," Holyfield told BBC Sport. "I moved up in 1988 and had six fights in two years before I was finally ranked number one and got the opportunity to fight the winner of Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas. "When people try to compare David Haye to me, I say, 'wait a minute, I fought six heavyweights and beat them, they didn't make me number one contender straightaway'. This content is protected 606: DEBATE I would like to see Haye defeat Valuev and bring a bit of glamour and entertainment to the heavyweight division shenglong "I fought my way in to prove I could win the heavyweight title. I fought more as a heavyweight than I did in any other division. "David Haye only fought one fight, and it will only tell you how good he is by how well he does in the fight against Valuev. "He's a very skilful fighter, but he's moving up to the heavyweight division and he's fighting against a giant, a guy who's 100lb heavier and has a huge reach advantage." The 47-year-old Holyfield, the only man to win a heavyweight title four times, fought Valuev last December, losing on points when many observers felt he should have been awarded the decision. Haye has fought as a heavyweight on three occasions, but only once since relinquishing his cruiserweight belts, against American Monte Barrett last November. Haye, 28, knocked Barrett out in the fifth round, but did not have it all his own way, finding himself on the canvas at the start of round five. He will come up against the 7ft 2in Russian at the Nuremberg Arena on 7 November, and Holyfield has not ruled out fighting him should he emerge victorious. This content is protected Holyfield fought well against Valuev but lost by a majority points decision "I'll be fighting in November and hopefully in February or March I'll be fighting for a world title," said Holyfield. "It's not a dream, it's a reality, it just hasn't happened yet. If I become world champion I won't fight him [Haye], but if he gets the belt first I will. "I just need to go and do what I need to do and then I can sit down, and everyone can be happy, because obviously nobody's happy with me standing up. "I'm just saying, why don't you let me fight for the title! And in February or March, there's a good chance that might happen."
I saw this story on the BBC. They said that Haye was an Undisputed Crusierweight Champion, who has had only one fight at HW - Neither of these things are true.
Haye NEVER got knocked down against Barrett for **** sake!!! Fact. The BBC are idiots and nobody complains when Paquiao, Mayweather or De la Hoya moves up in weight to fight a champion without fighting any contenders do they?
Yeah but Holyfield moved up when there was a single unfied heavyweight champion. Haye is fighting in an era where there are three champions and a 46 year old man just got a title shot after 14 months out of the ring and coming off a loss. Hmm, who could that 46 year old man be? Also relevant is that Holyfield moved up from a 190lb CW division and he wasn't particularly massive at that weight. Haye was a big CW in a 200lb division. Holyfield weighed 208lbs against Douglas in his 7th heavyweight fight when he fought for the title, Haye weighed more than that in the ring when he was at cruiser.
Holy didn't cause enough of a stir plus they were building the fight plus he was chasing a unified champ. Haye has only had 2 fights but with the belts split he could pick and choose plus he caused controversy. Boxing doesn't have rules that are followed when it comes to making fights.
i believe he has had 2 fights at heavyweight? one of these a while ago? i thought that was a pretty well known fact, but on this forum people keep saying he has only had 1 fight :huh your first point is a matter of opinion the second point you make is pretty valid though, its one thing to not give a guy moving up a division a high ranking in that division, but i think a recognised cruiserweight champ is normally a good candidate for a heavyweight title fight. when there are 3 champions and most of the top guys have already lost to a klitschko, why not give the CW a shot? agreed. evander holyfield has no right to complain about david haye getting a shot at valuev. as for haye-holyfield in march, maybe its for the best that someone with a good offense finishes holy's career once and for all. evander holyfield could continue to lose 12 round decisions against heavyweight contenders for years before eventually retiring, or he could be blown out by the K bros or david haye and go out with a bang. for his own health, maybe its best somebody ends his career brutally with a KO rather than drawing it out over lots of fights :think
Haye did hit the canvas against Barrett and it was a proper KD - even though he was off balance I agree with Holy too, Haye is still quite green to me...
Didnt haye slip and when he was on one knee, barrett hit him???? The ref gave Haye time to recover before continuing the fight.
Whatever He got hit by a cuffing punch and went down, I don't remember exactly but I think there may have been a slip involved too, but he got hit and then went down... in fact I think he was already slipping - but still, he got hit and went over... that's a KD isn't it ?
My recollection is that Haye was slipping but Barrett clipped him while he was on his feet (but then afterwards too when he was down)