Who should Haye fight next - BBN weighs it up

[dondada]

You might be interested in this. If nothing else, there is a chart at the bottom of the piece which makes for an easy reference guide.

http://www.britishboxing.net/news_3508- ... tions.html

[Autobarn]

I like the idea of Rahman and then the Arreola-Chazz Witherspoon winner. A former champ to match with the current lineal/historical/undisputed/magazine/sanctioning body (delete as appopriate) cruiserweight king would look good on the poster and help sell plenty of tickets. And then a prospect of some decent ambition/considerable flab which would be good matchmaking.

Rahman and Arreola's names are common enough in the rankings.

[Max Molyneux]

Ruiz, I want to see how he reacts to a HW's Inside fighting.

[Horse]

I think a fight with Oleg Maskaev would be good.

[Autobarn]

I think a fight with Oleg Maskaev would be good.

former champ, upright Eastern European style, decent punch and a weak chin. Sounds like a good 1st gamble.

[Poncey]

Rahman and Ruiz for me would be good. Lawrence put a good showing in against the former considering the short notice. Surprised McCline isn't ranked in the top 10 considering his performance against Peter.

How Arreola is ranked so high is beyond me.

[Old bones Ian]

Still think Haye doesn't need to go for a puncher in his first fight at heavy, Maskaev and Rahman although they may be a bit worn, they can punch.
For me the first opponent doesn't have to be a top 10 heavy, someone just outside but with a bit of a name in America.
Tye Fields, Monte Barrett, Brian Minto or Fres Oquendo would all be ideal for me, get Haye used to the weight and give him a few rounds.

[Horse]

Still think Haye doesn't need to go for a puncher in his first fight at heavy, Maskaev and Rahman although they may be a bit worn, they can punch.
For me the first opponent doesn't have to be a top 10 heavy, someone just outside but with a bit of a name in America.
Tye Fields, Monte Barrett, Brian Minto or Fres Oquendo would all be ideal for me, get Haye used to the weight and give him a few rounds.

He has said he is going to fight a top 10 heavyweight, he is stuck with that now.

[Old bones Ian]

Yeah it seems that Haye has already made a rod for his back in that one, if he can't produce a top 10 heavy for his first fight, then all the other promoters will be lining up to slag him off in the papers.
I was suggesting those names as if i was Haye's manager, i would look at him fighting a couple of guys around that level , then move him onto a tougher older heavy such as Rahman.

[Autobarn]

Still think Haye doesn't need to go for a puncher in his first fight at heavy, Maskaev and Rahman although they may be a bit worn, they can punch.
For me the first opponent doesn't have to be a top 10 heavy, someone just outside but with a bit of a name in America.
Tye Fields, Monte Barrett, Brian Minto or Fres Oquendo would all be ideal for me, get Haye used to the weight and give him a few rounds.

He has said he is going to fight a top 10 heavyweight, he is stuck with that now.

He's hardly stuck with it, is he? He has the top 10 from 4 different organisations to choose from. "Top 10 heavyweight" is a very flexible term. He seems a fighter who likes testing himself so it shouldn't be a problem. He's not one to take step down fights before promising the "career definer" in the near/far future so I don't see how it'll be a problem.

[Eraserhead]

Ruiz, I want to see how he reacts to a HW's Inside fighting.

Ruiz is not particularly good on the inside. Toney hammered him there. Ruiz holds inside.

Glad someone pulled Max up for that one. Ruiz is an awful inside fighter. Just because you know how to negate and smother someone inside does not make you a good inside fighter. James Toney, for example, is a very good inside fighter. Ruiz has never been able to fight inside and that's why, more often that not, he over reaches and gets caught up in a clinch. He doesn't know how to move his hands inside.

[Max Molyneux]

Ruiz, I want to see how he reacts to a HW's Inside fighting.

Ruiz is not particularly good on the inside. Toney hammered him there. Ruiz holds inside.

Toney's a great Inside fighter though, Haye lacks Inside fighting and since Klitschko holds alot Inside, fighting Ruiz could prepare him for Wlad If he wants to last long enough.

[Tunney]

I think a fight with Oleg Maskaev would be good.

Haye choosing to fight old Maskaev would seem kind of cowardly. He should instead go after a younger fighter like Alexander Dimitrenko or Alexander Povetkin, of a tough American like John Ruiz.

Oleg Maskaev is in his 40th year, he's was inactive for 18 months because of serious back injuries (he didn't fight in 2007) and he looked very shot in his fight with Peter. Oleg would be an certain KO win for Haye because he's old and slow.

[Horse]

I think a fight with Oleg Maskaev would be good.

Haye choosing to fight old Maskaev would seem kind of cowardly. He should instead go after a younger fighter like Alexander Dimitrenko or Alexander Povetkin, of a tough American like John Ruiz.

Oleg Maskaev is in his 40th year, he's was inactive for 18 months because of serious back injuries (he didn't fight in 2007) and he looked very shot in his fight with Peter. Oleg would be an certain KO win for Haye because he's old and slow.

Maskaev is likely to be better than the fighter Haye actually ends up fighting. I didn't think Maskaev looked that shot against Peter, as I thought he was giving Peter a lot of trouble. Also, Maskaev is in the top 10 of the independent rankings rather than just top 10 in one of the sanctioning bodies rankings.

[ArtOfWar]

Rahman has already signed to fight James Toney again, so I don't know why people keep bringing his name up. That is unlikely to happen even if Rahman beats Toney.

[Autobarn]

When is Rahman fighting Toney? July? Does that mean Rahman can't fight anyone the rest of the year??

You can't always take what Haye says at face value. It could be a ruse so that no one tries to interfere with his real choice of opponent. i.e. rival promoters signing this preferred opponent all of a sudden, or making them an offer to fight their own boxer.

[Max Molyneux]

Ruiz is only preparation for an encounter with a particularly clingy girl. Best way to prepare him for Wlad K is to teach Frankenstein's monster how to throw a 1-2 followed by a clinch.

Sanders prepared for him by putting on weight and playing golf

Ruiz has similar holding tactics to Klitschko on the Inside, Haye looks uncomfortable when put on the backfoot to why I'd like him to fight someone like Ruiz too. When he's on the backfoot It's reduces the power of his right hand since he can't time It with accuracy so well then.

Will help If he ever wants to stand a chance against Wlad, who Imposes his size onto you as well.

I liked the Ruiz who fought Valuev better, he didn't hold and used effective agression and head movement but got robbed.

[dapug]

It is a good job the heavyweight division is so weak.

Everyone is talking about Haye as if he is some kind of superman, he may be lucky and be in the right place at the right time but who has Haye really beaten a 35 year old champion had him gone and on the floor but for some reason stood off instead of going for the kill.

Anyway the rumour was that the Frenchman Mormeck camp was in turmoil.

As for the win over Enzo Mac that was a mismatch how anyone could believe Enzo had a chance must of been on the funny stuff, you only have to study Enzo's record, he was built up by the late Ernie Fossey and maybe Sports Network were forced into making this fight to keep their TV Company sweet.

But then a few of the 'brains' of boxing believed he could win maybe that is why they work for Setanta and allegedly would the great old matchmaker in heaven sanctioned this fight.

No matter how much you want to praise Haye there is still the question mark of Carl Thompson hanging over him.

You only have to ask a former cruiserweight world champion who stepped up and took on a big punching heavyweight what it was like to be hit on the chin by a bona fide heavyweight puncher.

If Haye wants to kid the public that he can crack it at heavyweight he should stick to fighting second rate heavyweights like Delaney and Bonin and maybe the offer from Sports Network should be seriously considered as he should be too young and fresh for Skelton.

John Ruiz would also be a good choice but I cant see King letting him fight with no options.

Booth and Haye will now learn what the real world is all about in boxing, they may have signed with Goldenboy but they have no heavyweights so to get Haye in a position they too are going to have to share some of their new signing.

It appears the control freak could be getting cut up like a race horse and he would not be the first boxer.

[Autobarn]

Ouch dapug, your post is written with the intensity and venom of a business rival who wants to see Haye fail.

The heavyweight division isn't going to be weak when Haye, Povetkin and Solis are at the top. These are 3 very talented men who achieved big in the amateurs and who can equal that as pros. Haye is already undisputed cruiser champ, Povetkin won a 4-man IBF tournament, and Solis has already come through a couple of assignments that should have been hard work for a prospect & his promoter has already made inroards with US cable TV.

Haye has consistently been willing to step up, to risk himself and to knock out (or be knocked out by) quality dangerous fighters. He's now going to try the same at heavyweight and it should be one hell of a ride. He's putting himself on the line, which few in this country with world titles or good world rankings are willing to do.

Mormeck's camp may have been turmoil, but Haye had been training for the fight a long time only for the date to get put back. King is friends with WBC boss Sulaiman, and without wanting to sound libellous, it appears that Don got his fighter a pretty big advantage there. If Haye had peaked in training and then had to wait months, he would have lost his edge, gone potentially stale etc - yet he still knocked out an experienced world champion when only "70%".

If Haye can be even better at heavyweight, this is good. Sure there are heavyweights that can knock him out. There are lots of heavyweights that he can knock out, too.


Haye is certainly not the same fighter he was vs Thompson. After Thompson, he has picked his punches in EVERY FIGHT, allowing the KO to come naturally in his comeback fights and breaking ppl down systematically at Euro level etc etc

[Old bones Ian]

Haye has just got to get it right from the off, he can't afford any slip ups, as this would push his title attempt back months.
Look at Juan Carlos Gomez he was the dominent cruiserweight, then went up to heavy, that was 11 fights and 6 years ago. Of course he didn't do himself any favours with some out of the ring antics, but it shows that its not that easy to get a title shot.
Also the one time Gomez came into the ring unfocused he got chinned in a round, by a average heavyweight.

[dondada]

Can you believe that Solis is fighting Harry Duiven Jr next...the lad who battered his dad in that awful farce some time back?

[Poncey]

Serious?!?! That was an awful picture. His belly was hanging out. But it was a late pull out I suppose.

[Old bones Ian]

Can you believe that Solis is fighting Harry Duiven Jr next...the lad who battered his dad in that awful farce some time back?

If he is then i'm putting money on a 1st round KO for Sollis

[boxwills]

Who is JMM.

Thepug you seem to know a hell of a lot and are well informed are you involved in the business or do you work for one of the leading promoters some of your points are interesting but didnt Lennox Lewis get KO'd twice and still regained the heavyweight Title so how can you keep on about Carl Thompson and Haye.

Haye has come back since the knockout what has Thompson done.

But I do agree that the punching power of the big boys in the heavyweight division could spell the end for Haye.

For those of you on this site who are just casual fans or Haye Lovers please let me remind you of a painful fact.

Jim Twite who was a fat middleweight knocked Haye spark out with one punch with 10 oz gloves on at York Hall how do you expect Haye to stand up to a 18 stone puncher with no headguard.

Booth will have to earn his keep with clever matchmaking which he failed to deliver for

Gary Logan
Martin Holgate
Stephen Smith
Patrick Maxwell
Anthony Small
Robert Loyld Taylor
Cathy 'the bitch' Brown
Chris Okoh (Adam was actually filmed crying his eyes out in the corner begging them to stop the fight with Corbett and his man was champion at the time I believe)

Is this man really the saviour of British Boxing, is he capable of taking on Hennessey, Hearn, Maloney and Warren.

Even Dennis Hobson tried and failed and he had Haye and Booth under contract also Ricky Hatton and Clinton Woods.

I will Watch Booth either become a hero or a clown.

And befor anyone asks who I am I will inform you I am boxing historian who is very well connected from the top to the bottom!!!!!!!!!

[Autobarn]

yes boxwills you talk an awful lot like someone who has a joyous weekly column

some interesting points raisded by well connected ppl, who also seem (over)eager for Booth and Haye to fall flat.

now, no doubt, what promoters, managers, fighters that see Haye as a rival all think, will probably be filtering down through certain guys who post on here.