I don't think he would be, at his best Haye was extremely good at getting in and out of range, he was also very fast and powerful and could execute a gameplan beautifully, as clopixolacuphase says in the next quote, he could be very negative (and very effective and hard to hit with it) so I certainly don't see him taking a lot of punishment.jamesmcdonnell wrote:
I think Joshua though would be all wrong for Haye, too big, fast and powerful. Haye would have to get inside that reach and close him down, and at HW, that's not really his style, he punches at distance. Haye'd get hit hard and often early, and then get stopped, despite the gulf in experience.
whether he still has the reflexes, speed and sharpness to execute a gameplan like he used to is another question entirely.
A fight right now would probably be between a past his best Haye and an AJ not nearly at his and yet to prove he can reach that level. An interesting combo. One that makes the fight right now very hard to predict with so many unknowns, although I'd lean toward AJ if it happened tomorrow
clopixolacuphase wrote:Haye was always very negative fighting super heavyweights like Joshua. Even Audley he didn't jump on until he thought he could. At his best he took Wladamir the distance. If he managed to get himself back to anywhere near what he was he would at the very least give Joshua rounds. I wonder... Would the old Haye have been favorite to bang AJ out at this stage?
I think prime Haye would beat current AJ. Joshua looks quality and has a lot of physical attributes which can take him to the top, but right now, he's had zero top level experience and I suspect Haye would be too slick and a bit too wise for Anthony.
Does Haye still have it? Probably not, so the current version of both fighters, as above, i'd be swayed towards AJ as I can't see Haye coming back 100%. but you never know.
I'd also argue, AJ has still to improve and get that top level experience. If and when he does fulfil that potential, perhaps there's no version of Haye that would beat him. but he's not there yet and I don't think the AJ we see now would have been favourite against David Haye at his very best.
