i understand alot of you dislike haye but....

i don't really dislike haye. he was a solid champion in a weak cruiserweight division. i think haye has a puncher's chance against wlad...but a puncher's chance that is hobbled by the massive gulf between the technical skills of haye and klitschko and haye's own chin issues. but, haye's pretty quick, pretty aggressive and a pretty strong puncher, if he catches klitschko with something early, maybe he can change the complexion of the fight. if the fight goes past 5 rounds, i think haye is bound to get stopped between 7 and 10.

if haye does pull it out, the only way in which he would definitely add to the division is that he is much more vulnerable because of the chin and size disadvantages. my concern would be that if haye does win, he might all of a sudden think that now that the title is his, he's entitled to bang on tomato cans, lining his own pockets before going to the inevitable chopping block against really big, strong heavies. haye is not a terribly active fighter, so it's not as if there will instantly be five-a-year title fights. to be honest, no matter who wins haye v. klitschko things seem bound to languish in the same murky waters. i hope i'm wrong, but i'll wait until after the klitschko fight to start worrying.

 

That's an odd concern considering that Haye has never shown a tendancy to pick easy fights and has taken fights that he didn't need to in circumstances that did not favour him on more than one occasion. If there is one fighter today that is most like NOT to do what you said it would be Haye.

 

I am not a Haye fan (and I dislike him) but you make a very valid point and that is a good quality I didn't recognize in Haye. Good post.

 

I like Haye, but he is no Frank Bruno.

 

haye is great

 

I don't think HW is full of paper champs - Wlad and Vit are solid champs (whatever one has to say about them, they are very good boxers) - but it is full of weak contenders. And the WBA, of course, is just f*cked.

Of the guys you list, only Chambers has fought a top-10 opponent. "Fun, exciting guys" only really matter if they fight each other.

All that said, Haye can't but help. He clearly has talent and personality. If he loses, I just hope he doesn't fade away. The division can certainly use him.

 

Frank Bruno was an animal until he met Tyson.

 

he's never done that because he's never been in a division where he is the dog against most of the top fighters...hence my point. haye is an egotist first and foremost, even his fans agree with that, i question his incentive to get bombed out of there financially and situationally. to be honest, i would consider older, low second tier guys like lamon brewster and michael grant a serious threat to haye...guys who either hit too hard, considering has has been floored by smaller, lighter hitters or are just too big physically.

 

i think wlads done quite enough to be considered a legit champ and not a paper one.

but i do see your point. i think haye will liven up the hw division a bit...i just dont see him beating wlad.

and i like watching wlad fight, he koes people. when i watch a hw fight, i like to see people get koed.

 

When has the CW division ever been strong it always been weak. I just saw on boxrec that Jonhnny Nelson is ranked as the greatest CW of all time.

 

no one really wants to fight CW because a less than average HW fighter can make a hell of a lot more money than the CW champion.

 

i suppose you're right about the division being historically weak...the cruiserweight division has been better than now, such as in the days of dwight muhammad qawi, evander holyfield, carlos de leon and leon spinks, but never a loaded division.

in addition, boxrec's divisional all-time rankings are absurd, in general, because they make no analysis of the numbers based on the quality of the fight beyond records and titles. so that seems a bad method for making a subjective judgment.

 

It is the same argument with BHOP and Calzaghe that the reigned in weak divisions but it is not there fault if all the rest are crap. Haye has shown courage in always stepping up at early stages of his career. Think about what he has achieved in less than 24 fights.

 

i'll give you that. like i said, i don't dislike haye...at least this fight with klitschko has people cookin' a little bit about the heavies.