After David Haye’s emphatic victory over gutsy American veteran John Ruiz, at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, I am sure the public are wondering who is next for him.
After a fast paced first round where David put John down twice, David must have sensed that he was not going to get his man out early and started using his boxing brain and getting behind his jab, ocassionally throwing the odd power shot, to break his man down. Eventually he did and stopped Ruiz in the 9th round when his trainer, Miguel Diaz, threw the towel in to save his man.
In Haye’s post fight interview with Adam Smith, he explained that he did not get enough sparring as he would have liked to due to a cut that opened up in a particular session, a cut that also re-opened in this fight.
David will now take time off most likely for a few weeks, and come back and announce something fresh. And hopefully it will be a fight with one of the Klitschko brothers! There has been extraordinary hype about fights with either of the World Champion brothers throughout the latter part of David’s career and it’s the fights that the heavyweight division needs right now.
If fights with either Klitschko end up falling through, as they have done in the past, the WBA rankings do not look appetising enough for Haye to keep defending that particualar belt. Do the public want to see another borefest with Nikolai Valuev, who is ranked at number 4? Or how about a fight with Kali Meehan, who was knocked out by England’s own, average at best, Danny Williams inside a round?
To preserve Haye’s own legacy, it would be for his own benefit to ditch that belt and fight the opponents in the division that matter, what there is of them. Alexander Povetkin is still a promising talent that would be a good fight for Haye in the public eye. He is ranked 4 by the WBC but I do feel that he needs a little more time for his shot and I feel his style is actually tailor made for Haye.
Ray Austin is ranked 1 by the WBC but he has been knocked out inside 2 rounds by Wladimir Klitschko and this fight may prove to be a hard sell in the US and may have to take place in the UK if it were to happen. Of course, there is Odlanier Solis, rated at 2 in the WBC rankings and Solis beat David in the amateurs. Not only that but he also recently did one better than Haye and beat a common opponent in Monte Barrett in just 2 rounds!
I can’t finish this article without mentioning the recently talked about Tomasz Adamek. The former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Champion is now at heavyweight and would also contribute toward’s David’s legacy.
All these fights are worth considering in my mind. Haye is proving so far that he is willing to get into the ring with anyone and I believe him!
There are too many fighters out there that let boxing politics get in the way of the best fights taking place but it’s been a long time since a boxer has come along and is willing to take on the best, especially in the heavyweight division, a division that matters to the general public and a division that will put boxing back on the map providing David keeps doing what he is.
