A Look Foward to a Possible Vitali V Haye Contest

Somewhere down the line there is likely to be a World Heavyweight title unification between one of the Klitschko's and the new WBA champion David Haye. With Vitali the more likely of the two to face Haye in what would presumably be Hayes last fight with Sauerland Event (the promoter who is in charge of him for the next 3 fights). The road to the fight however looks a long one so it'll either be late 2010 or early 2011 before it comes off and it will almost certainly come undone somewhere along the line.

Vitali fights next against Kevin Johnson on December 12^th then looks set to fight the winner of the Ray Austin v Oleg Maskaev, though that fight hasn't been given a set date it could mean that by the time Austin and Vitali clash Austin could be 40 and Vitali 39. Maskaev is no better he'll soon be 41 and has a fight on December 11^th, so it'll put back any prospective fight with Austin until late spring at the earliest. So with Vitali v the winner of the Austin-Maskaev fight taking place late 2010 lets look at Haye's options.

Haye will almost certainly fight John Ruiz next the WBA have him as their mandatory challenger and this should take place in the first half of 2010 if Hayes suspected broken hand heals quickly enough. After that it'd be fair to assume Haye can have a voluntary defence against a highly ranked contender and it will be promoted by Sauerland so it may be very possible that the fight will be in Germany. A possible opponent would be Lamont Brewster maybe (promoted by Sauerland and a former world champion) or a clash with Tomasz Adamek (maybe it's just a fight I want to see) who would both promise an action fight and both be beatable. Though Brewster is most certainly on the wane and past his exciting best, he's a known name and holds a victory (several years ago) over Wladimir Klitschko. So this would take us up to late 2010 as well.

By this point Sauerland will be on their final fight as Haye's promoters and he'll be unlikely to ink a longer contract. It's well known the Klitschko's don't like to deal with Sauerland but they may have to co-promote this one, and K2 (the Klitschko's promotional group) may request "options" on Haye for 3 future fights if he wins. This would mean it would be the ideal time for the fight to take place as the Klitschko's could then have options written into the contract and it would be around 2 years in the makings.

Despite the fact that by the time takes place (assuming it is the first half of 2011) Vitali will be just shy of his 40^th birthday he's in fine shape now and hasn't been in the wars like many fighters his age. In fact given the ease with which he should deal with Johnson and the winner of the final elimination fight he could well go into the fight fitter than most would assume. Haye by that point would be 30 so he'd definitely have youth on his side going in though Vitali would hold height and reach advantages. Haye would be giving away 2 inches in reach and over 4 inches in height, and despite giving away around a foot to Valuev, Klitschko is a totally different proposition. Haye a former Cruiserweight would be giving away 30-35lbs to the Ukrainian who is built, much like Haye, in a trim muscular frame very well kept.

So how would the fight go?

What would currently look like an tough fight for both would probably see Vitali stopping his opponent who's chin can still be questioned. He was knocked down several times at Cruiserweight against much softer punchers than Vitali whose jab is as hard as most fights straight right, a fighter who isn't destructive but is incredibly heavy handed and hurtful. Haye has the quickness to trouble Vitali for a while but sadly when he gets going the end would come for Haye under repeatedly accurate hurtful punches from the clumsy looking but devastatingly effective Klitschko who is surprisingly quick for such a big man.

In 18 months or so though, questions on how faded Vitali will have become, will age catch up with him before they get in the ring? A man who has always kept himself in shape has been troubled by injury's previously (forcing him into a retirement in 2005 before a comeback in late 2008). Injury's could well come back and destroy the whole fight before they get into the ring, though the fight has been building since Haye decided to force his own move up to heavyweight so far he seems to have used his mouth to goad the Klitschko's before pulling out of fights with both of them. If time has has caught up to him then it's very possible Haye could pull off a victory on points using tactics based on speed. However he would have to be much more active against Vitali than he was against Valuev, Vitali doesn't miss a lot and what he lands is hard and fast whilst much of what Valuev threw was slow and telegraphed leaving him open to counter punches. If Vitali slows down his hand speed he may end up being easier for Haye though it'd be hard to see Haye stopping him (Vitali's chin is regarded as one of the most solid in boxing) even if age was catching up to him.

With out many problems personally I see Vitali beating Haye now or in 2 years time, though the longer Haye can hold the fight off the better chance he has. The Brit would have a much better chance looking for a fight against Wladimir though he seems to be booked up with title defence, likely starting with Alexander Povetkin sometime in 2010.