David Haye: Where is your confidence now?

September 25th, 2008

By Scoop Malinowski

David Haye burst onto the heavyweight scene this year in pomp and style. He closed out his cruiserweight career with the convincing and emphatic KO’s over Jean Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinelli. Then he began a verbal assault against the best heavyweight on the planet, Wladimir Klitschko, calling Dr. Steelhammer and, in effect, all the other heavyweights a “disgrace.”

Even Klitschko seemed mildly perturbed when Haye, with the media behind him, confronted the respected and classy IBF/WBO Champion at a Klitschko-organized charity event in London.

So by announcing himself onto the heavyweight horizon in such a bombastic and dramatic manner, Haye’s confident mouth created great expectations for his fists to live up to. Would Haye call out a dangerous name fighter for the grand commencement of his heavyweight quest? Would David Haye show fearless bravado by challenging someone formidable and difficult such as Sultan Ibragrimov, Tony Thompson, Juan Carlos Gomez or Chris Arreola?

No. In fact, Haye has gone to the complete opposite direction. He is apparently, according to reports last week, trying to set up fights with absurdly unproven fringe contenders such as Kevin Johnson and JD Chapman. As a prelude and foundation to mount his challenge of the king Wladimir Klitschko…Kingpin Johnson? JD Chapman?

Haye should be taken into custody for committing fraud and defamation against the world’s heavyweight champion.

To make matters even more embarrassingly ridiculous, Haye has also been linked to fighting 47-year-old Ray Mercer for his November bout in London. Yes, the same Mercer who was shellacked and severely dominated by Wladimir Klitschko in 2002.

A Haye win over Mercer, Johnson or Chapman proves nothing.

If David Haye really wants to convince the world he is a viable threat to Wladimir Klitschko and not just a heckling motor-mouth, he should get in the ring with Tony Thompson who has stepped up and challenged Haye this week. If Haye is as great as he says he is, he should take care of Thompson, who lasted ten rounds with Klitschko earlier this year, and do the job quicker than Dr. Steelhammer was able to.

Haye would also earn big respect and increase public demand to force Klitschko to meet him, if he were to get in the ring with the tough Russian Sultan Ibragimov. Sultan lasted 12 rounds with Klitschko in March. If Haye can dispose of Sultan by stoppage, boxing fans would take notice. And Klitschko vs. Haye would instantly become a massive, lucrative, must-see event next year. Something heavyweight boxing sorely needs at the moment.

But as of now, with Haye name-dropping sorts like Chapman and Mercer, Haye is nothing but a big mouth with a powerful promoter behind him. He does not deserve to fight Klitschko. He has provided no actual evidence besides his own word, that Klitschko vs. Haye would be good value for the boxing public to shell out it’s hard earned money for.

Haye does not deserve to face Klitschko on the basis of beating Chapman, Mercer, Johnson, Rahman or Barrett. To call yourself the superior of Klitschko, the man you called a disgrace, and then try to schedule fights with Mercer, Johnson or Chapman is a disgrace.

Actually, I believe Haye is a fantastic asset for the division and his attitude and style are exciting and entertaining. But he has to prove he can compete with the best and show he can handle them. We know he can destroy quality 200-pounders. But we do not know if he can deal with full-size, prime-aged, world class level heavyweights. And by handpicking limited opposition such as Mercer, Chapman or Johnson (or even Eddie Chambers), Haye seems not to know either if he is actually up to the task. The very daunting task of competing with and conquering the dominant King of the Heavyweight division, Wladimir Klitschko.

If David Haye wants to prove he deserves to share the ring with the owner of the richest most prestigious prize in sport, he has to earn it through authentic actions not verbal vocabulary. Haye’s big words insist he will defeat Klitschko. But his actions now, or lack thereof, indicate a glaring lack of confidence which I believe will get him pummeled into unconsciousness by the fists of Klitschko within three rounds.

Right now one fact is clear: David Haye, aside from his barking and shrieking, is still a total irrelevance on the heavyweight horizon.

Scoop’s book Heavyweight Armageddon! The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle is available now on Amazon.com and zumayapublications.com.