Was David Haye better as a cruiserweight or a heavyweight?

[OH_RickNMorty]

Was David Haye better as a cruiserweight or a heavyweight?

I think Haye had more of an edge in the heavyweight division, but I’d like some more opinions.

Thanks.

[ValMar]

Was David Haye better as a cruiserweight or a heavyweight?

I think Haye had more of an edge in the heavyweight division, but I’d like some more opinions.

Thanks.

I don't think so................

[OH_RickNMorty]

So you’d say he was better as a cruiser?

[DrDuke]

At cruisers, no doubt. At the HWs his biggest win was Chisora, cause Valuev was a freak, Ruiz was past it, while had never been really good.

[fanman]

he was better at heavy. was fasting to make 190, so was weaker there obviously. more decent wins at heavy too ; chisora, valuev, ruiz, harrison! , respectsble loss v vlad.

[ValMar]

So you’d say he was better as a cruiser?

Of course.

[tiny_acres]

So you’d say he was better as a cruiser?

Of course.

X2

[HomicideHenry]

He was a damned good cruiserweight, who beat alot of stiff competition, but it was at heavyweight where we saw just how special he was--- Barrett, Harrison, Ruiz, Valuev, Chisora, Bonin, and the effort against Klitschko (when nobody thought he'd last more than a few rounds) showed he was damned good and certainly was in the top three at that time.

Retrospectively, it's clear enough to me that he likely would have lost to Tyson Fury--- in part because 2012-2013 was the beginning of Haye becoming injury prone, and a confrontation with a 250+ pound man who could box pretty good probably would have accelerated the damage and IN FACT just the training for Fury did mess him up as he was forced to pull out of the fight TWICE and have shoulder surgery.

After Chisora it was injury after injury for Haye and it was obvious he couldn't continue against legitimate contenders--- hence matches with two nonentities and Bellew, whom he thought would be an easy stepping stone.

[gp.]

fornicate me. He was an undisputed cruiserweight champion. Of course he was a better cruiserweight.

If a featherweight undisputed champion had managed to take Wladimir Klitschko 12 rounds, that might be his greatest achievement. He would still be a better featherweight.

[sgtcecil]

He was unified, not undisputed cruiser champ.

[gp.]

He was unified, not undisputed cruiser champ.

Fair enough, but irrelevant to the main point.

[Lackeos]

He was a #1 cruiserweight and a #3 heavyweight.

[TempleSlave]

100% CW. He was dominant. At HW he was top 5 and that’s about it.

[ValMar]

100% CW. He was dominant. At HW he was top 5 and that’s about it.

Yes !

[jamesmcdonnell]

Cruiserweight by far.

He overachieved at heavy really but his competition was carefully picked.

[actjac]

Was David Haye better as a cruiserweight or a heavyweight?

I think Haye had more of an edge in the heavyweight division, but I’d like some more opinions.

Thanks.

My opinion is:

I woke up this morning and said to myself I bet if I go on boxing forums there will be those who will post about David Haye. . . .British boxing fans can never seem to let go of their heroes even when they are exposed as less than greatness that they had believed and hoped for.
Henry Cooper, Frank Bruno, Derek Chisora, David Price, Audley Harrison, . . . . My gawd!. . . let them go!. . . .Haye will never be as great as you had hoped for!

[Onetimeonly]

Says the guy desperate to sauna with Tyrone sprong.

[Syntax Error]

Haye had one of the most cynical HW careers ever.

I don't think he beat a truly world class HW ever; OK, Valuev might be considered to be world class by some, but not by me., he just managed to bag a trinket.

He was definitely better as a CW.

[Loki]

Ridiculous question. He was too small for HW. Cruiser 100%

[lillywhite14]

He was unified, not undisputed cruiser champ.

Only because Bell/Mormeck had titles stripped during their rivalry. IBF was wrongly taken from them.

[oogiebe]

Cruiserweight, no question about it.

[jamamb]

wouldve had a stronger cw legacy if he also hung around to beat cunn for the ibf but the money was at hw for him

i still think he wouldve beat vitali in 2011/2012

[Nightmare Roy]

CW definitely, he's easily in the top 10 all time, maybe higher, wouldn't break the top 100 at HW I wouldn't have thought.

[guysecretan]

He's not tall enough to be a HW in the current era you need to be at least 6'4

[Enlightened-One]

Haye had one of the most cynical HW careers ever.

I don't think he beat a truly world class HW ever; OK, Valuev might be considered to be world class by some, but not by me., he just managed to bag a trinket.

Nikolay Valuev was definitely a top-five world-rated opponent. His 5th stoppage over Dereck Chisora was also a deeply impressive victory.

I could be wrong, but wasn't Monte Barrett a fringe contender, considered by many as a borderline top-ten ranked heavyweight? I've read this somewhere but I can't verify this claim from another source.

The Brit also signed-up twice to face Tyson Fury, but had to pull-out due to legitimate injuries and he even employed Deontay Wilder's services at least twice as his sparring partner.

And apart from Alexander Povetkin, the rest of the top-ten world-rated heavyweight contenders in 2009/2010 wouldn’t have been very competitive against a fighter like David Haye. This is more of a hindsight thing really, since some of these guys, such as Alexander Dimitrenko and Mariusz Wach, were being used as Hayemaker's sparring partners.

Put it this way, if it was GGG that decided to make the jump to 168lbs to face Rocky Fielding for his “trinket” title (instead of Canelo), with a view to fighting Callum Smith next, would you criticise him for not facing Avni Yildirim or Tyrone Zeuge beforehand?