PRIME Jirov VS haye @ CW

Jirov would wear him down and stop him in the late rounds. Jirov has big edges in chin and staminia, and also probably in boxing ability too. Haye is the crusierweight version of Shannon Briggs. He is dangerous as hell because of his power but he has bad staminia and no chin.

Jirov tko9 Haye

 

Jirov for me. Simply more proven at top level CW.

If Haye was to win, his best chance would be to get it done the first half of the fight. Jirov was a tough tough guy, with the amateur pedigree, so he could box enough when he wanted to, was a great body puncher, had stamina to burn and with a solid chin. He'd take it to Haye and would outwork Haye. The more I think of it, Jirov would probably stop Haye at CW.

 

Interesting matchup. I initially picked Jirov, but the more I think about it, the more I lean toward Haye.

Something that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that Jirov’s absolute fittest weight was 190, before the limit was raised to 200. He was fiercely strong at that weight and would grind down his opponents through attrition, ripping body shots and taking shots to give harder shots.

When he went up to even 200, he slipped a notch. That extra 10 made a difference. He looked much slower and rusty at 200 lbs. against Arthur Williams.

Haye is a beast at 200, it’s a good weight for him.

While Jirov could move and box in spots, he was primarily a swarming type aggressor, a style that is perfect for a big puncher like Haye. Even if Jirov elected to box, his boxing was more herky-jerky type head movements and awkwardness, not slick. Jirov was also a southpaw and open for right hands, Haye’s specialty.

So, as much as I like Jirov, if this fight is at the 200 lb. limit, I just have to think that Haye’s power is too much and would get to Jirov. Vassiliy never faced a guy who could punch like Haye at Cruiserweight, and I’d have to lean toward Haye stopping him in around 8 rounds.

 

Jirov by TKO mid- late rounds

Jirovs workrate and odd punching angles would catch up to Haye's chin, Haye has never fought a fighter like Jirov.


Jirov TKO 8

 

Jirov never fought anyone with Haye’s power at Cruiser.

A good fight to see what Jirov could do was against Dale Brown. Brown was a consummate counterpuncher, very skilled. Jirov came forward the first couple rounds and was countered. Then he backed up and boxed more, smartly drawing Brown to him, culminating in the 8th round, when Brown stood and traded and was dropped. Jirov went back to stalking in the 9th, and stopped Brown in the 10th with an absolutely vicious body shot.

This fight showed Jirov at his best. But, Brown didn’t have the power to hurt Jirov, although he did swell his face up quite a bit. Jirov coming forward into Haye’s right hand, would be hurt. Even when he boxed, he was often in range for a long reached fighter like Haye.

The possibility does exist that Jirov could absord Haye’s power, adapt enough movement-wise to negate Haye and land enough grinding, heavy handed body and head shots to blunt Haye’s assault, but I just feel that Haye’s eraser would land more than once, and I’m just not sure Jirov could withstand it.

 

That's a good point actually, when the weight limit was increased it helped some fighters a lot, but was seriously detrimental to others, like Jirov and especially Braithwaite.