Paul McCreath: Now that David Haye has won the WBA heavyweight belt by outpointing Nicolai Valuev the talk has started about whether he can unify all the belts. Already he is talking about a match with WBC champ Vitali Klitschko and then later his brother Wlad, the Ring,IBF and WBO champion. Haye has many fans who believe he can accomplish this difficult feat and they dream of the day when he finally gets his chance.Others are at least a bit sceptical. Putting aside whether we like or dislike David what are his real chances? Let us take a look at this question.First we will deal with the usual reasons why some fans think Haye will never succeed in unifying the titles..
1. His weak chin – Frankly this argument is getting a bit stale.Detractors like to point to his KO loss to Carl Thompson early in David’s career and the fact that he has been floored more than once. First we will put the Thompson example to rest hopefully for good. The facts are that David was not counted out in this fight which was only his eleventh pro match. The bout was stopped with Haye on his feet. The defeat had absolutely nothing to do with his chin. He was an inexperienced young fighter in against a tough old pro and he just ran out of gas.He punched himself out trying to finish off Thompson. That happens all the time to young guns who have not yet learned how to pace themselves. As far as the knockdowns he has suffered against other fighters this does not necessarily mean too much. There are different types of knockdowns. Sometimes it is a matter of balance. Sometimes it is a case of getting caught with a good shot that would floor nearly anybody. The important things to consider are was he hurt, did he get up again and did he recover quickly? A knockdown does not automatically mean a weak chin.
2. Stamina problems- Again the detractors point to the Thompson fight but how do you explain then that he just went 12 rounds with the giant Valuev and was still going strong at the end? Either his stamina has improved since the Thompson fight or it never was a problem in the first place. If he can go 12 rounds with Valuev he is OK in that department. Not having to make the 200 pound cruiser limit may have helped a lot with Haye’s stamina.
3. He is too small- We have all heard the argument about David being a blown up cruiser who can’t hope to compete with the super heavyweights of today. Valuev certainly put considerable doubt into that idea. You have to consider too that two of our best heavyweight champs of recent years Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson were both under 220 pounds at their peaks. So was Chris Byrd another belt holder and top contender Eddie Chambers was only 208 and 1/4 for his impressive win over the huge Alex Dimitrenko recently. David Haye is a very solid 6 foot 3 and weighed 216.7 pounds for the Valuev match. Size does not matter if you have better technical skills and speed,especially if you have good power to go with those skills.
4. He is unproven at heavyweight- Well I guess we can’t really say that anymore. Valuev had his limitations as far as skills are concerned but he was a proven top 10 fighter that Haye managed to outpoint. David proved by rocking Valuev in the last round that his power has come up with him to heavyweight. It may be more difficult when David comes up against a top fighter with KO power, something that Valuev lacked. It might be a different story when he first meets somebody slick like Eddie Chambers. We will have to wait for those answers so there remains at least some doubts but you can no longer call Haye nothing more than a product of hype. He is a very skilled fighter at heavyweight and at least now has one big test under his belt.
5. The alphabet bodies don’t like unification because they lose sanctioning fees so they won’t let it happen. This is a possibility but less likely than even a couple of years ago. The ABC guys have found a way around this problem. They now have super champs, regular champs and interim champs. Sometimes they even have other types of belt holders like champion in recess or other ridiculous names. As long as they get their money they don’t care what they need to do. I doubt if they would see unification as being a financial threat to their bank accounts to the extent that they will stand in the way of what the fans want. We have to hope this will not be a problem.
6. The Klitschkos will avoid fighting David Haye- This could be true after all the difficult negotiations between Haye and both Vitali and Wlad during the past year. There is definitely bad blood there now but money usually talks. If the fights are rich enough they will happen. Don’t forget either that Vitali wants that WBC belt so that between him and Wlad they will hold them all.
That leaves us with the question of whether Haye could actually defeat either of the Klitschko brothers. You can’t prove this until they actually fight but you can sure get lots of “expert” opinions. My own guess is that Haye would likely fight Vitali first. If they fight in the next six months or so I would expect Vitali to win but still give Haye a chance of winning on points. Haye is faster and Vitali is bigger and more experienced while both are very skilled. It could go either way but the longer they wait to fight the better Haye’s chances will be. Vitali is not getting any younger and he could decline at any time.
If David meets Wlad either one would have a chance of stopping the other. Either one could also win on points. It will be a difficult fight to call.If this fight happens after a match with Vitali you would have to give Haye pretty good odds.
In summation I would have to say that the chances of anybody unifying all the heavyweight titles are slim but if anybody is going to do it soon it will probably be David Haye.