Haye vs Vitali seems likely (if unpopular)

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After David Haye recently stated his intention to delay his retirement pending the outcome of the Vitali/Adamek fight, it appears Vitali has reaffirmed his desire to punch David Haye's lights out. Vitali claims he would be willing to fight Haye AND have the fight take place in the UK.

"David Haye is world famous not for boxing skills but for his long tongue,”

Whether or not it will happen remains to be seen as Haye's standing in the eyes of British boxing fans is at an all-time low. His comments re the "Polish plum" (Adamek) appear to suggest he's gained little in the way of humility post-Wlad, but then, playing Devil's Advocate, I can see why he would need to try leap-frog a bunch of relative no-names to secure another World title shot.

Many believe that Haye would need to re-establish himself on the World scene with at least two fights against top ten opposition but that would most likely take another year and we all know Vitali won't be around forever (despite him and Hopkins showing no sign of hanging 'em up). There's plenty of needle in this one, especially from Vitali (who would appear to genuinely dislike Haye) and I do believe that the lack of decent opposition combined with a lack of motivation to face the Povetkins of this world will see Vitali try and get a fight with Haye arranged asap.

If this fight was to happen I'd perfer to see it delivered straight away with no wrangling over this, that and the other and I'd prefer to see Haye being the one agreeing to whatever terms were laid down (as he brings nothing to the table). However, I have a funny feeling that Vitali's desire to do some serious damage to Haye will see him making allowances that I don't think Haye really deserves.

Haye potenially has the chance at a title shot out of nowhere and I think he should, if it happens, show a little gratitude, but something tells me, it's unlikely to surface.

Some have questioned whether or not a fight would sell but I honestly think it would even if it was a case of, like in the days of Naz and Eubank, people tuning in to see our guy lose. However, I don't think Haye will mind whose money he takes, it all spends at the end of the day.

Do we want to see this fight?

Should it happen?

Would anyone on here be drawn in as many of us were for the Wlad match up?

eddyfightfan wrote:fair point but i dont think we'll see haye against any of those and think him against vitali would be entertaining and worth while whilst we have the chance. i'd rather see povetkin, solis, fury, helenius price and perez fight each other until we have one fighter emerge undeafted (unless its solis) with anyother 6-7 good wins. then a huge fight would be made with wlad, and it would prove if wlad (and to an extent vitali even if he'd retired) was a true great, or luck guy to be around in a so called poor division.

Who do Vitali and Wlad fight in the meantime when the rest are fighting for the tag of best of the rest?

Steffan wrote:I respected Haye as a crusier but his record at heavyweight is a joke

Monte Barrett - 38 year old who never achieved much anyway
Nikolay Valuev - Worst heavyweight champion in history
John Ruiz - 39 year old well past his best
Audley Harrison - Needs no explanation

The only decent fight he has taken is Wladimir Klitschko and look what happened there

Haye should either move back down to crusier or retire

I actually thought beating Valuev was a good win and his best win. Beating the likes of Mormeck and even (although I defend him as a decent champion) Maccarinelli is not as good as Valuev. But Haye's record is pretty poor by world champ terms and fail to see why he should get another shot. One man can say a bunch of nasty stuff and leapfrog a quiet guy who works his way to a shot in the ring. This is an example of what's killing boxing.

AlexHuckerby wrote:Colonial do you seriously think these guys are better than Haye?! These guys are either past it, never really had it or not ready or plain awful (Tony Thompson) Solis is overweight and coming in the ring like that is a disgrace why do you want to see him again, it was over in a round the first time (Other things happened I know) but whats the point in seeing that again? Dmitrenko is Euro level at best surely you can see that! Only seen Ustinov once he didn't seem special and he's rated all the way down at 33 in the world, Boystov hasn't really faced anyone either similar to Haye, but doesn't look ready for the leap yet for me. "Fat" Eddie Chambers has far less than Haye. Pure and simple I don't see how you can rate these guys higher than Haye...

But I guess it's down to opinions so fair enough...

Solis IS overweight - but before rupturing his ACL he was landing shots pretty well on Vitali's head. Was unbeaten.

Helenius is unbeaten. Dimitrenko is a "giant" HW who can box (a bit).

Remind me what has Haye done recently? You've been taken in by his "long tongue" again.

Whilst there is no fight the K-bros could take that would sell as well over HERE - stateside his credibility is gone. An Arreola fight in the Staples centre would do much better. Alternatively Helenius in Finland or Dimitrenko in Kiev.

There are lots of boxing loving countries all around the world who all believed that Haye was finished after Wlad

I think it would be fun whilst it lasted. Nobody wants to see a "no-name" busted up and Haye due to all his shouting has made himself a name verbally if not physically.

Everyone likes to see the gobby fighters beaten up (Naz, Toney etc) because it's the equivalent of watching the school bully being given a good kicking.

Haye always has a puncher's chance in any fight (provided he can reach the chin!) so his biggest fans will always cheer him on in the hope he'll land the "Hayemaker", and his biggest detractors will love to see him beaten senseless. It's a win-win situation in my book.

I can't see Haye winning any more than 2 out of 100 times f they fought but hey, it's the heavyweights - anything can happen.

Thing is, there is no suggestion he carries that power at Heavy, he has not knocked anyone out for 6 years, although u could argue he put Enzo out.

He has fought Valuev (utter garbage) Ruiz (finished) Barrett (equally awful) Harrison (ditto) and Klitchko and has looked anything but a genuine heavy.

Vitali would do a job on him, keep him up just to punish him (a bit like Lewis did with tyson) it would be laughable and I think haye's ego has took too much of a beating already, and he will almost certainly retire!

Hopefully not alma. BTW congrats on your fine win!

Im not sure why it would be unpopular..

Ok so he lost to WK, and his attitude can get on peoples nerves as it does mine.

But in his defence, he done better against WK than most do, and gave him a couple difficult moments, and was no where near to being knocked out... So really he is probably the toughest challenge that Vitali could face still..

I still see Haye loosing but its still one of the best possible match ups we could see in that division at the moment.. and who knows, with VK getting on a bit it could end up interesting as Haye is still VERY quick and even at heavy weight his punches dont tickle.

If Haye even mentions 50/50 then he is deluded. That lean, hugry Vit that fought at the weekend would/will make early work od Haye imo. Adamek was't great (understatement) but should have been much quicker as you would think Haye would be but it was neutralised by Vits size, reach and agility.

I was actually believing Haye was going to have a good go at Wlad but the bottom line is they are just better and i personally think Haye shouldn't go near Vit unless he wants a truly humiliating defeat.

If Haye gets a new trainer like Freddie Roach, or even Robert Mckracken, works on combination punching and inside fighting, I'd give him half a chance, but if he sticks with booth and keeps spending time with the likes of Justin Bieber, he has no chance and doesn't really deserve the fight, because with those tactics he has no chance!!

Volcanicash wrote:If Haye gets a new trainer like Freddie Roach, or even Robert Mckracken, works on combination punching and inside fighting, I'd give him half a chance, but if he sticks with booth and keeps spending time with the likes of Justin Bieber, he has no chance and doesn't really deserve the fight, because with those tactics he has no chance!!

He's 31 now a bit late to make that drastic a change to his style. Maybe some tweaks here and there but he hasn't got time to make wholesale changes.

Don't worry..his toe is a lot better now..