Is David Haye the most overrated British boxer?

[Spud MK2]

Whatva complete and utter **** he was.

i hate his guts.

as far as boxing is concerned…
he was supremely talented a wonderful boxer

i would argue he massively underachieved.

think thenlikes of kirkland laing match him on that score

[Boxerbeetle]

Certainly one of the most frustrating fighters ever. On form he was brilliant to watch, demolished Chisora in a way that Fury / Usyk / Vitali couldn’t manage, and had statement wins against Enzo and Mormeck at Cruiser. But definitely loses credibility for his meek performance against Wlad, pulling out against Fury (twice at least? maybe more I’ve forgotten) and conning the public with the Bellew fights.

He gave some cracking interviews though, I still quote him regularly in real life, surprising how often you can fit “render this idiot unconscious” into general conversation

[dookus]

Tremendous speed and power, silky skills, decent defence, appalling gas tank, dodgy chin, big bags of courage.

Some really good wins (Mormeck, Maccarinelli, Chisora) and some good ones (Barrett, Ruiz, Fragomeni) at world / fringe level.

The Valuev win would be more impressive if I had any intention of remembering his performance. Beyond cynical. Rather like taking the two Bellew fights knowing the condition he was in. But that's prizefighting.

It's tempting to fault him for the Klitschko performance, but in reality, to win, he had to put pressure on a bigger guy with great movement and jab and boxing brain, plenty of speed, more power, and no worse a chin. Try doing that when any mistake may be your last. I would have given him a better shot against Vitali, who was old by then.

Overall, some great achievements, not a very long record at world level. But then he was always very keen to retire with his faculties intact.

I think perceptions of him being overrated largely come from his persona rather than achievements. He was pretty divisive to say the least, not hard to dislike. Apart from that i think most boxing fans remember him in the "flawed big talent, some big wins, could have done more" sort of mould, which seems right to me

[CaptainSpacerod]

Certainly one of the most frustrating fighters ever. On form he was brilliant to watch, demolished Chisora in a way that Fury / Usyk / Vitali couldn’t manage, and had statement wins against Enzo and Mormeck at Cruiser. But definitely loses credibility for his meek performance against Wlad, pulling out against Fury (twice at least? maybe more I’ve forgotten) and conning the public with the Bellew fights.

He gave some cracking interviews though, I still quote him regularly in real life, surprising how often you can fit “render this idiot unconscious” into general conversation

Haha yeah absolutely great line that is.

There’s footage of him and a sky news reporter arguing the semantics of his Audley gang rape comment which is quite entertaining. Can’t help but admire his eloquence.

[keithmoonhangover]

Or am I just underrating him? I never saw the appeal.

What's my point of reference on this? Overrated compared to what/who?

[Boxerbeetle]

Certainly one of the most frustrating fighters ever. On form he was brilliant to watch, demolished Chisora in a way that Fury / Usyk / Vitali couldn’t manage, and had statement wins against Enzo and Mormeck at Cruiser. But definitely loses credibility for his meek performance against Wlad, pulling out against Fury (twice at least? maybe more I’ve forgotten) and conning the public with the Bellew fights.

He gave some cracking interviews though, I still quote him regularly in real life, surprising how often you can fit “render this idiot unconscious” into general conversation

Haha yeah absolutely great line that is.

There’s footage of him and a sky news reporter arguing the semantics of his Audley gang rape comment which is quite entertaining. Can’t help but admire his eloquence.

Ha oh yeah - I’m not saying I’m actually going to gang rape him, just that it will be as one-sided as a gang rape

[Lenny Cravats]

What happened to Carl Thompson by the way? Did he just retire?

His last fight was on a Hatton undercard. It was awful. He didn't look good and I wasn't surprised to see him not fight again after, especially considering his age.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Tremendous speed and power, silky skills, decent defence, appalling gas tank, dodgy chin, big bags of courage.

Some really good wins (Mormeck, Maccarinelli, Chisora) and some good ones (Barrett, Ruiz, Fragomeni) at world / fringe level.

The Valuev win would be more impressive if I had any intention of remembering his performance. Beyond cynical. Rather like taking the two Bellew fights knowing the condition he was in. But that's prizefighting.

It's tempting to fault him for the Klitschko performance, but in reality, to win, he had to put pressure on a bigger guy with great movement and jab and boxing brain, plenty of speed, more power, and no worse a chin. Try doing that when any mistake may be your last. I would have given him a better shot against Vitali, who was old by then.

Overall, some great achievements, not a very long record at world level. But then he was always very keen to retire with his faculties intact.

I think perceptions of him being overrated largely come from his persona rather than achievements. He was pretty divisive to say the least, not hard to dislike. Apart from that i think most boxing fans remember him in the "flawed big talent, some big wins, could have done more" sort of mould, which seems right to me

The performance against Wlad was unforgivable, he capitulated meekly, after giving it the Charlie big potatoes before the fight about how he was going to muller him.

I get that it was a difficult task, but Haye didn't really even give it a proper go. He could at least have let his hands go and would have had a chance of connecting and hurting Wlad.

[mickey1975]

Tremendous speed and power, silky skills, decent defence, appalling gas tank, dodgy chin, big bags of courage.

Some really good wins (Mormeck, Maccarinelli, Chisora) and some good ones (Barrett, Ruiz, Fragomeni) at world / fringe level.

The Valuev win would be more impressive if I had any intention of remembering his performance. Beyond cynical. Rather like taking the two Bellew fights knowing the condition he was in. But that's prizefighting.

It's tempting to fault him for the Klitschko performance, but in reality, to win, he had to put pressure on a bigger guy with great movement and jab and boxing brain, plenty of speed, more power, and no worse a chin. Try doing that when any mistake may be your last. I would have given him a better shot against Vitali, who was old by then.

Overall, some great achievements, not a very long record at world level. But then he was always very keen to retire with his faculties intact.

I think perceptions of him being overrated largely come from his persona rather than achievements. He was pretty divisive to say the least, not hard to dislike. Apart from that i think most boxing fans remember him in the "flawed big talent, some big wins, could have done more" sort of mould, which seems right to me

The performance against Wlad was unforgivable, he capitulated meekly, after giving it the Charlie big potatoes before the fight about how he was going to muller him.

I get that it was a difficult task, but Haye didn't really even give it a proper go. He could at least have let his hands go and would have had a chance of connecting and hurting Wlad.

And had several of us lot there. Would any fight, home or abroad, get a Boxrec turn out nowadays?

[dookus]

Tremendous speed and power, silky skills, decent defence, appalling gas tank, dodgy chin, big bags of courage.

Some really good wins (Mormeck, Maccarinelli, Chisora) and some good ones (Barrett, Ruiz, Fragomeni) at world / fringe level.

The Valuev win would be more impressive if I had any intention of remembering his performance. Beyond cynical. Rather like taking the two Bellew fights knowing the condition he was in. But that's prizefighting.

It's tempting to fault him for the Klitschko performance, but in reality, to win, he had to put pressure on a bigger guy with great movement and jab and boxing brain, plenty of speed, more power, and no worse a chin. Try doing that when any mistake may be your last. I would have given him a better shot against Vitali, who was old by then.

Overall, some great achievements, not a very long record at world level. But then he was always very keen to retire with his faculties intact.

I think perceptions of him being overrated largely come from his persona rather than achievements. He was pretty divisive to say the least, not hard to dislike. Apart from that i think most boxing fans remember him in the "flawed big talent, some big wins, could have done more" sort of mould, which seems right to me

The performance against Wlad was unforgivable, he capitulated meekly, after giving it the Charlie big potatoes before the fight about how he was going to muller him.

I get that it was a difficult task, but Haye didn't really even give it a proper go. He could at least have let his hands go and would have had a chance of connecting and hurting Wlad.

I think in any firefight with Wlad, 90% of the time he gets stopped, and deep down he knew it. Wlad was vulnerable to HW power but he would always get up, whereas Haye had been hurt badly by far smaller opponents.

His ultimate goal was to make enough to retire before taking too much damage - can't argue with that - and taking too many uncalculated risks against Klitschko was not compatible with that. Of course this is all completely infuriating given the absolute mountain of shìt he talked before (and after) the fight, but as I said, I think it's his persona more than his achievements that can make him seem overrated.

[Kilburn]

I didn’t feel especially let down by Haye against Wlad. It was a pure boxing match that he could never win, he didn’t owe anyone enough to swing for the fences in futile fashion, an approach that would have only seen him get counterpunched into submission.

[deadpan]

I genuinely think he lost the Wlad fight in the Kellerman face off interview.
And I'm convinced that Vitali would have ground him down late in a one sided affair

[Wales]

i would argue he massively underachieved.

MASSIVELY underachieved?



Amateur wise he got to the final of the worlds but lost to Solis - that’s not massively underachieving surely ?

As a pro he was unified cruiserweight champion - can’t achieve more than that

As a HW he fought the best of his generation In Klitchko and lost - I dont think losing to Klitchko is massively underachieving? At HW he also had wins over Valuev who was 100 lbs heavier , KOd Ruiz first to KO Chisora

The only way he “massively underachieved” is if achieving is defined by beating every fighter at both weights by KO.

[Wales]

I genuinely think he lost the Wlad fight in the Kellerman face off interview.
And I'm convinced that Vitali would have ground him down late in a one sided affair

I don’t think the fight was won and lost in the face off interview. Haye had pretty much zero chance of beating the post 2004 Wlad. Pre Wlad pairing up with Emanuel Steward maybe … the world knew Wlad had a shite chin and could be exposed. That was the only way Haye could win. But the second Wlad teamed up with Steward, who put in place a style that made Wlads shaky chin almost impossible (certainly a lot more difficult) to hit .

I will wager Haye went into the fight knowing and believing 100% he would win.

[NazNaci1]

Never seen him? He’s worth a watch, big puncher. His fights with Eubank worth a watch too

I missed that era of the British boxing scene. How many weightclasses he went through througout his career?

Only cruiserweight as far as I can remember, Eubank bulked up to fight him

He got KO'd in 6 by Crawford Ashley at Light Heavy, if I remember. Had some decent scalps at CW, though and was a real handful. Loved how he'd play possum and bang, take you out.

[Controversial]

I missed that era of the British boxing scene. How many weightclasses he went through througout his career?

Only cruiserweight as far as I can remember, Eubank bulked up to fight him

He got KO'd in 6 by Crawford Ashley at Light Heavy, if I remember. Had some decent scalps at CW, though and was a real handful. Loved how he'd play possum and bang, take you out.

Yeah you’re right, LHW early in his career but mainly known at CW. I used to like watching Thompson, tough fighter.