was barrett the fight the fans wanted?

Other than the Klit sisters and Vlauev the whole HW division is full of fat cruiserweights.

Barrett is an okay fight. Not great, not ****.

 

My pick was for him to fight either Barrett or Rahman.

I got my wish, and I think that Barrett was a pretty popular choice overall.

 

Chambers is a genuine top 10 heavy though. Style wise, he may not be the best adjustment for Haye in terms of getting used to fighting bigger guys, so I see your point. On the other hand Chambers is a fight that Haye could definitelly lose.

 

As an "overall boxer", Barrett is not half the fighter that Mormeck or Carl Thompson were, anyone with half a brain can see that! He is not even as good as Enzo Mac if you ask me. The whole reason Barrett is likely to be his toughest opponent yet is simply the fact that he's likely to come into the ring at 225lbs as opposed to 210. Size is everything at heavy and we have yet to see how Haye adjusts to fighting a much bigger man - simple as.

In a p4p sense, Barrett is certainly not better than the above named fighters. They are all legit top ten cruisers. Barrett is a gatekeeper at heavy. He is a good indication of how Haye will fare, but a test he needs to pass impressively if he's to be anything at heavy.

 

I was keeping an open mind but he was certainly one of three available opponents I wanted him to face...Barrett, Maskaev or Rahman were the ones I liked.

Anyway, everyone knows Haye is ducking Sedreck Fields.

 

I wouldn't exactly say I "wanted" it, but its not a bad first (real) fight at heavy.

I mean it could have been better.

 

Could have been better, could have been worse.

In the overall grand scheme of things, Barrett isn't bad for a first opponent. The major players - i.e. Klitschko's, Chagaev, Valuev, Povetkin are all busy with others/each other, whilst the others are much of a muchness.

 

Only seen Chambers v Povetkin and he was absolute ****.

 

I actually think that Barrett is a tougher fight at HW than I wanted Haye to have at first.

I thought an easy fight in November and then Barrett would be ideal in February.

I'd hate for Haye to rush in and get KO'd here.

 

Yeah I know, in quoting you I was actually agreeing with what you said in a roundabout kind of way (maybe didn't make it very clear) on a p4p level, Barrett is not as tough an opponent as Mormeck, Thompson or even Enzo Mac. It was more a riposte to whoever it was that said Barrett was the best overall boxer Haye has faced. Realistically speaking he is not even close. The reason he is a tough challenge is size, simple as.

I wouldn't say 95-5%, I am about 65-70% confident Haye will win (you are right I picked Haye but had him and Mormeck a virtual 50-50). However, this is mainly due to the way he proved himself against Mormeck and Enzo. Prior to the Mormeck fight I would have had him an underdog against any heavy of substance.

 

This is correct.

 

I think Haye is just trying to save face. He rubbished Barrett saying :

"Who cares if I fight Monte Barrett? Who has he ever fought? If he has another win maybe, and looks good, he could be in the mix, but at the moment he’s just a 38-year-old journeyman who had a good win against a seven-foot basketball player the other night. Big deal."

Now he's got nowhere left to turn he's trying to make the case that he's trying to give fans what they asked for.

How can Barrett be in anyone's top ten?

 

This is the bottom line.

Haye really has nothing to offer the top fighters.

On the one hand he is dangerous.

On the other hand, if they beat him, he can offer nothing in the way of a title and little in the way of a ranking.

He is a loose loose proposition and did well to get Barret.