Prime for prime: who wins?

Not as strong as the heavies were back then, IMO.

 

Haye, Brunos chin would get cracked after about 6.

 

The heavies in Brunos day were a better bunch than todays Crusiers.

The step up from Crusier to Heavy may be overstated but the fact is Haye is still to do it and has struggled to hold a shot at the lower weight.

 

I do not think Haye has entered the prime of his career just yet. A few fights at heavy and mabe a title success will make him a genuine British great but at the moment Bruno has the best acheivment of actually winning a world title at heavy. Bruno was a class contender in his prime and we do not know quite how good Haye will be. Haye may turn out to be great or a china chinned wreck.

 

I don't really agree with the first statement. Most of the really top heavyweights (now or in the last 20 odd years) are/were guys who started off - at least in the pros if not necessarily in the amateurs - as heavyweights rather than guys who moved up in weight. Of course a few have had moderate success like Chris Byrd, James Toney, Michael Spinks, Michael Moorer, but none of these exactly became legends of the division.
Even Evander Holyfield who undeniably became a great heavyweight in his own right, was unable to really carry his punching power which was devastating at cruiserweight into the higher division. I think that Holyfield was more of a natural cruiserweight to be honest and I've always felt that he kept himself somewhat artificially at heavyweight in order to make the big bucks and for the higher prestige.
All in all I think that there is a big difference between cruiserweight and heavyweight.

 

If Bruno was around today, he would school all of the current champs, with the exception of Wlad - that would be a 50-50 affair.

I think the state of the heavy division would be improved by dropping cruiser down to 190 - it would give the bigger LHW's somewhere to go without jumping up too much, and the bigger cruisers (like Haye) would be forced to move up. Many seem to be forgetting that a lot of great heavies were no higher than 210. I would rather watch two guys 210-220 than big 250lb plodders like Sam Peter.

Any thoughts....

 

Spot on agree with you flux.

Haye is by far the best "boxer" in the heavyweight division now in terms of skills. certianly offensivley.

toney was up there but he has faded, and its probably only Chagaev who matches him, except he is very slow.


I think sometimes Hayes imense power makes certain people think thats all he is. if he did not have that power he would still outbox 99% of H/Ws with his speed and skills like toney and jones could. plus he is 6ft3 and naturally 225lbs, which i think is perfect for a H/W!

 

Haye early-to-mid rounds KO

This is current Haye v Prime Bruno; I don't believe he has fully reached his prime level yet.

 

Got to disagree with you there a bit. Firstly Haye is a world games silver medalist at HW. Evander was a natural 190lb cruiser who roided up to heavy, hence not carrying his punch very well whereas Haye is a natural heavy who boiled down to 200lb.

There was quite a difference between a 190lb cruiser and a HW, very much less so with the 200lb limit. A natural 220ish fighter can make 200lb with a bit of dedication maybe some 230lb fighters can. An in shape fighter at 220-230lb is still a very solid heavyweight - prime foreman often weighed less.

 

Bruno by early KO.

 

haye early ko. haye always trys to finish his fights early.:good

 

...and Bruno didn't?

 

Good points on Haye, although I still would say that he needs to prove himself as a heavyweight in the pros before he can effectively be evaluated.
I personally feel that the really good heavyweights are generally naturally large big-boned guys rather than somewhat smaller guys who need to lift alot of weights to get to the requisite weight (i.e. people like Evander Holyfield, Michael Spinks, Roy Jones). To me Haye would seem to fit more into the second category, even though he is undoubtedly a fine physical specimen. I'd say that most of the time the successful heavyweights are the naturally bigger guys, although like I said before Evander Holyfield would be a notable exception.

 

I think Haye's natural athleticism will serve him well (as it did Chris Byrd) - the current crop are as far from athletic as is possible. He will be able to telegraph the big punches and get out of range.

Most of his wins I think will be by TKO rather than KO - he will simply wear down opponents and stop them.