David Haye’s quest for the mantle of undisputed world heavyweight champion hits a potentially sticky patch next month in Manchester when he defends his WBA title against old Puerto Rican spoiler John Ruiz at the MEN Arena on April 3.
Londoner Haye, a breath of fresh air in a division previously beyond stale, is forced to sniff a 38-year-old with a style that can literally be described as ‘stinking’. Haye is forced to sniff him because Ruiz jabbed, mauled and mauled some more on the way to a few wins and the mandatory position with the WBA, a governing body long associated with Puerto Rico and where charity, clearly, begins at home. Ruiz wins because he stops the other man working.
This is indeed potentially sticky. Haye must not allow himself to be messed around in the first defence of the title he won with a 12-round decision over Rusian giant Nikolai Valuev in Germany (where Valuev is based) in November. It was a huge win for the talented and heavy handed British man - over a huge man, a man so huge that he can barely move. It allowed Haye to get on his bike and occasionally ram home the wheels with relative ease.
Ruiz is an altogether different proposition, despite his age - small, light, tricky and, of course, negative. He is not a big target for Haye, who likes a target at 23-1 (21), and at his best is awkwardly effective. I struggle to build Ruiz up any further. As for Haye, his only loss came in his cruiserweight days in 2004 when he punched himself out in five raucous rounds against a true iron man by the name of Carl Thompson (who never fought again, pointedly), a loss from which he came back magnificently well under trainer Adam Booth. One of his subsequent cruiserweight victims, the big, dangerous Enzo Maccarinelli, was reduced to a quivering wreck from a single Haye right hand. Jean-Marc Mormeck, the bull of a man from Paris, also kissed the baby from one thunderous right, and this was in Paris.
Haye used to rely solely on his “Hayemaker” right but a sharp jab and a big left hook are recent additions to his arsenal, along with much better stamina. At 29, a baby by heavyweight standards, Haye is one of those refreshingly ‘improving’ champions who only moved up to heavyweight because he had nothing left to prove at cruiser, where he picked up WBC, WBA and WBO titles, the first two from Mormeck, the third, from Swansea’s Maccarinelli.
The official move came in November 2008 with a five-round destruction of New York gatekeeper Monte Barrett, down five times in the slaughter. (He had previously tested the heavyweight waters with a three-knockdown, first-round blitzing of then world-ranked Pole Tomasz Bonin.) Haye then sought quick showdowns with his new and only obvious rivals, Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, but they dithered and then opted for easier prey; Haye opted for Valuev, who weighs over 300 pounds and stands over seven foot, and licked him in just his third fight at the weight. Valuev is a man the ageing Klitschkos had conveniently steered around.
Clearly, Haye wants to embarrass the Klitschkos into a square-up and has already hurled plenty of trash-talk in their direction but an emphatic win over Ruiz, whom the Klitschkos have also steered round, would really hit home. As stressed, Haye must now allow Ruiz to mess him around next month, to frustrate him. He needs to jump on Ruiz, blow him away. If he fails, he needs to stay cool, work out the mystery, before jumping on him again. Haye is as quick as he is powerful – smaller, yes, at 6ft 3ins, than many modern heavies and particularly those dastardly Klitchkos but faster and more ambitious in return.
Let’s not get too carried away. While his win over Valuev was well-executed, it was not particularly memorable and only emulated Evander Holyfield’s stick-and-move tactics against the same man a little earlier. (Holyfield nearly pipped Valuev at the age of 44). Plus, Haye’s chin is still in the Amir Khan bracket – suspect.
Nevertheless, he can undoubtedly fight and back home in front of his adoring British public (the Valuev fight generated huge PPV-numbers here) looks happy, hungry, fit-looking and this match away from potential superstardom.
The future is in his own wrecking-ball fists.
