Wlad is having a nice title run, he has beaten all his contenders with ease. they were all good fighters, but none of them will go down any higher than B+ level boxers.. But will Wlad get a "superstar/hall of famer" type of win on his resume to determine his legacy if he beats haye???
Haye cannot be the determining factor. His best win as a HW is over a faded Ruiz and his performance versus Valuev was quite disgraceful (not to mention he got dropped by Barret). So no one really knows how good Haye is as a HW and so far we've only seen some average stuff from him. If he get's steam rolled by Wlad, it will just be further evidence of his mediocrity as a fighter. If he puts up a brave fight and has Wlad in trouble, that could make me re evaluate him as a HW. So far he hasn't shown me much.
A win over Haye shouldn´t make a huge difference with regards to Wladimirs legacy, in my opinion. Haye is a good fighter but he has been very selective in choosing his opponents. He did not fight the IBF Champ Cunningham in cruiser (who had the last remaining belt). In addition, he only had one defence of his titles before moving up. At heavyweight none of his defences has been against a ring top 10 fighter. It would be a good win for Wladimir but it´s not like Haye is this legend that he is hyped up to be.
Wlad will be judged by the same criteria as Holmes, and come up shorter. His consistency and domination over C-B+ fighters, title defenses, big knockouts, that will be his legacy. And it's a pretty good one. It just won't propel him into the top ten unless he has far more longevity than I think he will. I expect him to retire within the next couple years and be secure enough to stay retired, unlike many.
His legacy is as set as it will ever be in my opinion. Beating top 5 guys will maintain it but wouldn't overly enhance it now, he's had 6 years as the best heavyweight in the world now. His legacy is as the top ranked heavyweight beating everyone he is expected to do (well he should have fought maskaev and valuev but aside from that he's beaten everyone else) To really improve it he needs to beat vitali or the guy who beats vitali.
A win over Haye wont mean much in the grand scheme of things, it will be below or equal to his wins over Peter 1 and 2, Byrd 1 and 2, Chagaev and Iggy. Not to mention Wlad my still have a good 10 fights in him, he could still add the likes of Povetkin, Adamek, Solis, Helenius, Pulev and Boystov to his list. Tell will tell just how good those and a win over Haye really are in the next 5 years.
