Who feels that Ruiz has a realistic chance of beating Haye ?

[Kilburn]

This is no walkover for Haye. I don't see how it can be unless he stuns Ruiz with something early.

If Ruiz shows anything like the workrate that he did against Valuev then this is a tough fight for David. Yes Ruiz lost the fight but it was close and Ruiz threw himself at the Russian giant all night. Haye could not have worked at anything like that pace.

But I hope to god that Haye wins and wins well. The heavyweight landscape really would be at rock bottom if he fails.

[FLINT ISLAND]

I agree with previous posts - a David Haye win is the best result for British and World Boxing.
John Ruiz has had his time - he aint gonna suddenly bring anything new to the table.
We need a fresh new star - a new champion.
I feel this is a very good fight - because we can judge Haye as a heavyweight on this fight because Ruiz has been in there with everyone.
If he stops John Ruiz - and does so well - then he would have bettered what anyone else has done to him (bar the freak KO against Tua).
We can forgive Ruiz the Tua KO because it was so quick that you could say he was caught cold. And in all the fights since Ruiz has shown his toughness.
I dont think Haye will KO him early - thats why it gets interesting.

The best fighters that Haye has ever fought were:

Carl Thompson
Forgemeni
Mormeck
Valuev

He did not KO any of them fighters early.

Quality fighters have the class to handle thenmselves in a ring.

John Ruiz knows his way around that ring - and this fight will be tough.

[MightyWarrior]

This could easily go badly wrong for Haye. I was amazed to see the BM poll going 99% in Haye's favour. I know the whole world wants DH to win this, and so do I, but Ruiz could prove a nightmare for him, if he doesn't blast him out early.

Have to assume his chin is as good as ever, as we haven't seen anything to prove otherwise, and as a daft as it sounds, Ruiz could well be the heaviest puncher Haye has come up against - he put Holyfield over, after all, and David's chin is as brittle as ever. He's probably only taken one half decent HW shot, against Barrett, and even that sent him clattering over...

[bigjack]

This could easily go badly wrong for Haye. I was amazed to see the BM poll going 99% in Haye's favour. I know the whole world wants DH to win this, and so do I, but Ruiz could prove a nightmare for him, if he doesn't blast him out early.

Have to assume his chin is as good as ever, as we haven't seen anything to prove otherwise, and as a daft as it sounds, Ruiz could well be the heaviest puncher Haye has come up against - he put Holyfield over, after all, and David's chin is as brittle as ever. He's probably only taken one half decent HW shot, against Barrett, and even that sent him clattering over...

Totally agree that's why i'm excited about this and will be there to watch.

[Carbo]

This could easily go badly wrong for Haye. I was amazed to see the BM poll going 99% in Haye's favour.

I tell you how this happens, logically. Hypothetically speaking, ten pundits could all think that Haye has, say, a 60-40 or a 70-30 chance of winning. In other words, they favour Haye, but give Ruiz a significant chance. Yet they all still have pick Haye in that kind of format, because they're put on the spot to go one way or the other. The problem is that this doesn't represent how confident they are. In the end, it could look like a dominating win for Haye, given the fact that 10 out of 10 pundits picked him, despite the fact that everyone has an inkling that it could be an upset.

For what it's worth, I reckon that just about every heavyweight has a chance of beating David, given his defensive frailties and vulnerable chin, and certainly Ruiz can do it.

But I still think we should be fairly confident that Haye can pull it off.

What will be interesting here is how his punching power looks.

There was a hint against Valuev, who was seriously wobbled by a left right at the end, and if he hadn't broken his right hand early, we might have seen more.

Then, he bounced Barratt up and down, but couldn't quite put him out resoundingly. I thought that was to do with over eagerness and wanting to make a big splash to force the Klitschkos to the table.

Ruiz will be an interesting test of that power. Surely Haye needs a knockout if he's to give any credence to his self hype as being one of the division's leading punchers.

[Srebmun]

He's probably only taken one half decent HW shot, against Barrett, and even that sent him clattering over...

If I remember correctly it wasn't as you have described, but I've only seen it once on the night.

[Finn]

He's probably only taken one half decent HW shot, against Barrett, and even that sent him clattering over...

If I remember correctly it wasn't as you have described, but I've only seen it once on the night.

From what i remember haye was pushed over then barrett threw a dirty punch and hit him while he was clearly laid on his back, haye then very pissed off absolutely smashed barret to pieces within the next 30 seconds.