BoxRec

From SecondsOut.com: The winner of the forthcoming David Haye-Lee Swaby English cruiserweight title fight will secure himself mandatory status for the British title held by Mark Hobson.
"I've achieved my initial goal of winning a proper title in my first year as a pro, and now I am after the British title in my second year," 23-year-old Haye said.
He added: "I want the British title in 2004 and I will knock Swaby out to earn my shot. I hear he's been saying the way to beat me is to come right at me and I hope he does just that. The more he comes forward the shorter the fight will be."
Lincoln's Swaby is on the run of his career, having lost only one of his last 11 outings. And the fact Swaby holds a third round knockout win over heavily-hyped WBU titleholder Enzo Maccarinelli is not lost on Haye.
The Lion/SEM promoted quicksilver said: "I've got the chance to knock out the guy who knocked out Maccarinelli, which is the next best thing from knocking out Enzo himself. I'd love that fight with Enzo, but let's be real, he's on Sky and I’m on the BBC and it is unlikely to happen. I wish him luck but I don't really see him as a major rival right now, but hopefully we can fight at some point.
"But, first thing's first, Swaby is going to get beat. I'm happy to make a little bit of history in becoming the first ever English champion at this weight and there's no way I'm losing it in my first defence."

so this is definitely on then?

good fight for Haye. Should stop Swaby inside 5.

Yes, Haye will be just too good.

He's the only English prospect around right now who I believe will fully justify the hype surrounding him.

Froch...hmmm..perhaps him too.

But I see Froch as ending up European Champion or such, but not world champion. He'll go about as far as Howard Eastman I think.

Haye though... World Champion one day, and I'm not talking WBZ or anything either.

Riddick Blowe wrote:so this is definitely on then?

good fight for Haye. Should stop Swaby inside 5.

The Board have ordered that Haye must defend his English title against Swaby before the end of April.
Haye sounds a bit overconfident to me. Swaby is dangerous, undoubtedly the best man Haye has fought in his short career to date. He had already stopped Tony Dowling, who Haye stopped for the English title recently.

Bennie - I have only seen Dowling once, in said fight with Haye.

Perhaps I am doing the guy a disservice, but my granny is probably as talented as he is. He looked a joke (or at least, Haye MADE him look a joke).

If Swaby is a bit of a step up from him, I don't see Haye losing much sleep.

swaby has a very good defence and decent chin...
dowling has a bad chin...

Loftgroov wrote:Yes, Haye will be just too good.

He's the only English prospect around right now who I believe will fully justify the hype surrounding him.

The only downer....
He's fighting in the most un-glamourous division in boxing above bantam.

I've heard people talk about his inevitable move to heavyweight. We'll have to see how much of his skills he can carry to a competitive heavyweight size. Not many IMO.

Haye doesn't have the frame to be a competitive heavyweight I don't think, his legs are pretty skinny, and he's not a huge man. Johnny Nelson is a lot bigger than Haye, has a better defence, and had limited success at heavyweight.

I'm still not sold on Haye, he has impressive natural gifts, including fantastic handspeed, and crunching power, but his lack of a defence is going to be his undoing at some point, unless he changes his style.

If Mock (a medicore light heavyweight not known for a big punch)can hurt Haye that badly, then unless that was an unbelievable fluke, I don't see how Haye could possibly compete at heavyweight.

At the end of the day, Swaby ain't a pushover and nor is Mark Hobson. Two big step-ups for Haye.

The fact that the cruiserweight division isn't particularly strong will benefit Haye immensely. He'll find it alot easier to win legitmate titles whilst age is on his side so theres nothing to say that some boxers will come through in the next year or two. The division needs someone like Haye, hes a character whilst his defence and an iffy chin(though I don't think people should look into his knockdown to much) will stop him stepping up to the heavyweight division.

He has the potential to dominate this division which seems to be the general feeling with most people too.