Is Haye completely overrated?

Haye has always relied on his reflexes and his power to bail him out of trouble so he's never really needed to rely on the typical fundamental or fluidity that most boxers have to show.

He is well past it though. Remember this, against Klitschko he was still 30 years old (just shy of his 31st birthday). He will be 38 later this year.

He has has 4 fights in 7 years since

Chisora
DeMori
Grejarj
Bellew

 

Haye's record is paper thin. His best wins are what? Mormeck, Valuev and Chisora? That's really nothing to write home about!

 

I have always viewed Haye's career in two phases.

Crusierweight - Where he fought regularly, was willing to take risks, didn't avoid tough fights, backed up his trash talk. Could have been an ATG at the weight had he chosen to stay there.

Heavyweight - Where he has often taken the path of least resistance, has spent far too much time inactive, failed to back up his talk in the Wlad fight (or even appear to attempt to) and has generally been a massive let down. He looked woeful in that first Bellew fight. He has wasted so much time since he moved up in weight, you must think he will look back on his heavyweight career with plenty of regret.

 

I like Haye as a character but as a boxer he lived off his reputation from his time in the cruiserweight division and he avoided so many Heavyweights he should be renamed David Duck

 

Hype job would be the better term. Hyped up to beat a prime Wlad. But that always was a overachieving goal, for a blown up cruiserweight, who didn't quite have the mentality to dethrone a dominant Klitschsko. His best wins do look a little paper thin though. Too much inactivity.

 

Great fighter at cruiser and a dangerous one at heavy. Not overrated at all imo, he is undersized to take on super heavys so had to fight more cautiously than at Cruiser

 

He isn't overrated, he is a highly skilled boxer with enormous power, a good physique and some good wins in the HW division like Ruiz, Valuev, Chisora (prob prime) and maybe Harrison.

But his career isn't as good as you might think if you hear him talk about himself in the past. I think the loss vs Bellew made him more humble but still he is/was a bigmouth without doing any significant in the HW division apart a couple of solid fights. He is no brand in the HW division like he might think.

If he is fit and healthy and had a good training camp he should beat Bellew, if he is not then Bellew will beat him for the second time. Easy thing. It's all about his fitness and health issues but still if he beats Bellew he has no clue in the division vs the elite.

Haye said this will be the last year of his career, i don't know if it's true but he wasted his career after KOing Chisora in 2012. Six years and he three fought times with two opponents being a waste of a time and the third one beating him. He stopped fighting at 32 which was a mistake and won't make him a legend in the sports. I know he had some injury problems in the past, no question, but then he should have call it a career once and for all. Still he is a entertaining guy and i like to watch his fights.

 

ERRRRRR YEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

 

Very overrated by some people.
He's finished now anyway.

 

Haye didn't have a clue how to combine his defensive moves with an effective attack against a quality heavyweight. The Klitschko bout showed that.

Haye could throw some good counter punches and was potentially devastating with a well-placed single shot or a two punch combo (against second tier HWs), but was always wild, sloppy and reckless when he mounted a sustained attack.
He got away with it against the carcasses of Ruiz, or Harrison, but he'd never be much of a force against a top quality prime HW.

 

He's not as great as he thinks he is..

I always thought he's over rated, definitely has been over rated at heavy, massively....

Thing is with fighters like haye, ppl are blinded by the explosiveness of fighters like him and think their better all around than they actually are..

 

He is indeed over rated and has been for a very long time.

 

He was one big toe away from eternal greatness.

 

Wladimir Klitschko wasn't able to do anything to Haye that Tony Bellew wasn't able to do. Haye may have been a bit more past it , but its evened out by the fact Bellew didn't have the massive physical advantages Wlad held over Haye.
Bellew's performance was probably more impressive since he countered Haye and stepped off , whereas Wlad just leaned and clinched illegally. The video don't show that or the subsequent point deduction for the consistent leaning.

It also doesn't show Wlad getting clipped in the 12th and holding on for dear life which was allowed by his bought off ref.
Haye wasn't good enough to see the 12th round against Bellew.

His performance was no better than Wilders against Stiverne either. Like Haye , Stiverne is a backfoot fighter whose ineffective on the front foot. Notice how Wilder never clinched Stiverene , cos why would he need to? He had the lenght and skills to outbox him from range on the back foot.
Amazingly Wlad was forced to hold and grab a guy who was out of his element going forward. Both Wlad and Haye are completely overrated. I doubt Wlad could even beat Louis Ortiz to be totally honest. Look at the struggle he had with southpaw Thompson for evidence