Is Haye underrated?

I think if he had applied himself to really focussing on legacy and being the best rather than movies/entertainment and money, he probably could have done a lot more than he did.

It's hard to see him as overrated after all his hotair then Toegate and back to back losses against Bellew - whom he would have sparked in his pomp no doubt.

He overtrained a lot and was injury-prone

But his power was real for sure, and he was elusive and difficult to catch.

He loses to both Usyk & Holyfield at cruiser though

 

I'm glad you brought up Haye vs Chisora because Haye was only 210 pounds vs 247 pounds for Chisora, and Haye also had moved up from Cruiserweight.

So how did a Cruiserweight do better vs Chisora than Super Heavyweights like Parker ? Vitali ? Even Fury ?

That's for all the posters here who think Heavyweights of the past couldn't compete now.

 

Ducked his Fury beating mauling and probably quit job

 

One of the more talented HWs of the last 15 years, but weak mentality. I dont think he has the highest ring IQ either.
Had he been in this era, i think he would of got mauled a few times.

 

But Haye beat only one world level fighter in Valuev and no one else at HW and that wasnt particularly a great performance. Chisora was always a fringe contender/ gatekeeper.

This era is a bit more competitive than the Klitchko dominated era.

 

I would say he was overrated not underrated. Off course in Hw division because in his cruserweight time he was very, very good. Shame that his prime was earlier than Usyk time in Cruiser where we got plenty of good and great cruserweight dudes with Dorticos, Gasijew, Briedis, Usyk... It will be pleasure to watch Haye vs them.

But on thread. Haye dont done much in Hw. He win WBA but in pretty bad style vs Walujew. Its hard to loss fight when You are 50% quicker than 150 kg dude with poor movement.

Later he done nothing. He beat old John Ruiz and make cash fight with his friend Harrison pretend for people that they hate themself...

He always just want that Klitschko money shot.

His only spectacular performance was vs Chisora where he looks better than Vitali but older Klitschko fight with Chisora with one arm because injury almost whole fight.

And he avoid dangerous fight. He avoid Chagajev talking bull**** how he cant fight with him because he is sick. That was weak special because he was official chalanger and good boxer from top 10 that time.

He was in first place business Man and that was the problem. He should had more good fights because for sure he got atributes to be really good hw.
He should take for example fight with Adamek and win with him.

 

Hayes best wins are Mormeck, Valuev, Chisora.

 

Yes Adamek, Huck, Lebedev, Cunningham. All of these and more at CW. And he could of fought many at HW. Id like to have seen Povetkin vs Haye, but Haye was thinking about his post boxing movie career lol.

 

I don't think so

Went on and on about how he was gonna bring excitement to the heavyweights division and knock everyone out and fought cowardly vs Valuev and Klitscho and then had the audacity to show his toe

In retrospect stopping ruiz and knocking out chisora were two impressive wins

I think his cruiser status is a bit overrated. Sure he got Undisputed but he didn't defend it and he missed plenty of names that were there

 

Depends where you rate him, there's a big scope of where he could fall in terms of ability. I don't think he was as bad as the Bellew losses suggest as he was basically done by then as he had retired under medical advice in 2013 due to injuries. But I also don't think he was as good as the Chisora KO suggested as he was a counter puncher who excelled when fighters came to him but struggled when he had to chase down an opponent as he wasn't as effective when forced to lead.

In his own era he was a top contender, but that era was thin on talent. While I think Povetkin would be a top contender/title holder in any era, Haye was only top 5 in era's lacking depth like the Klitschko era, I don't see him having much success in deep era's like the 90's. In the current era, he's a level below guys like Joshua and Parker, would beat guys like Dubois and Miller.

His power was legit though, he's proof the human skull can only take so much force and a 200lbs man who can punch hard can pretty much hurt anyone if they land flush.

 

Very good cruiserweight

Very average heavyweight

Chisora performance was fantastic, that’s about the only notable thing he did at heavyweight

Talked a good game, often didn’t back it up in the ring… and that’s if he even had the balls to get in the ring, ducking Fury twice

 

Ouch! with that resume he's not underrated, probably overrated.

 

Not especially. Has a shout for the #3 spot at Cruiser, albeit a country mile behind Usyk and Holyfield, but I'd say he's widely acknowledged as such anyway, and gets a proportionate amount of praise for what he did at 200.

His Heavyweight career was largely smoke and mirrors. Granted, sparking Chisora like that does add some extra lustre to the win - but a victory over Chisora, of any kind, is no great shakes in and of itself. Del Boy's tough and game but simply has never been a top Heavyweight. Yet he's arguably Haye's best win north of 200 lb.

Everyone knows Haye could really fight, and he did get pulses racing at Cruiserweight. Beyond that, what is there to really get excited about? If he did differentiate himself as being better than most of Wlad's other opponents during his reign, then he didn't do it by much when they actually met in the ring.

EDIT: That said, while not a great admirer of Haye, I don't hold those Bellew defeats against him at all, and I have no doubts that Haye would have absolutely beaten the brakes off that boy if you matched them at their best.

 

Lethal with a camera tripod in his hand