WBA world heavyweight champion David “The Hayemaker” Haye will defend his crown against former two-time WBA heavyweight titlist John “The Quiet Man” Ruiz this April at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Haye (23-1, 21 KOs), only the fifth British pugilist in history to win a piece of the heavyweight championship, held the WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring Magazine cruiserweight titles before he vacated them to instead compete in boxing's glamour division.
Haye captured the WBA crown when he defeated Nikolay Valuev (50-2, 34 KOs) by a close majority decision last November at the Nuremberg Arena in Germany.
Although heavily-muscled, Haye is relatively diminutive in stature compared to most other heavyweights in the division.
On the contrary, Valuev is an enormous seven-foot Russian who tips the scales in excess of 350 Lbs.
Hence, their matchup was aptly billed “David and Goliath.”
Prior to the contest, Haye cruelly and ruthlessly mocked Valuev’s ghastly physical appearance.
“He (Valuev) is the ugliest thing I have ever seen,” said Haye, 29, who has continually expressed his admiration for past cruiserweight champion Evander Holyfield.
“I have watched Lord of the Rings and films with strange looking people, but for a human being to look like he does is pretty shocking.”
Haye possesses tremendous skills and he has genuine power in both of his fists.
Some onlookers contend that he is the one prizefighter who can trump a Klitshcko and ensure that the Ukrainian brothers don’t ultimately monopolize the heavyweight division.
However, other boxing experts believe that Haye simply couldn’t compensate for the amount of size that he would surrender to either Klitschko in the ring.
“Haye is an active fighter and he has very good skills,” said Mike Cappiello (33-6), a native of Brockton who once fought for the IBO super featherweight title.
“Haye is a good cruiserweight. But, he is just too small to overcome the size of the Klitschko brothers.”
“The Hayemaker” will always have his chin questioned because he was shockingly TKO’d in the fifth round by Carl “The Cat” Thompson (34-6, 25 KOs) in April 2004.
“I’ll always have a suspect chin,” confessed Haye. “Anyone who’s been down always will. But, I’ve never been on the canvas for longer than eight seconds. You can train yourself to take punishment.”
Ruiz (44-8-1), a native of the Boston area, is a decent fighter and he has had his fair share of success in the professional ranks.
Nevertheless, Ruiz, 38, is not a powerful bruiser and Haye should be able to utilize his speed to land solid combinations and frustrate the larger “Quiet Man.”
Haye should knockout Ruiz in three months and it is not impossible to envision a scenario where he eventually battles a Klitschko and emerges victorious.
“The Klitschko brothers can be beat,” added Cappiello. “They are always on the outside not wanting to be hit because they know their chins aren’t the greatest.”
Haye may “always have a suspect chin.”
Still, with the dearth of talent found in the current heavyweight landscape, he could soon be that division’s newest king.
*Cappiello Brothers Boxing gym is located on 162 Main Street in Brockton, Massachusetts (02301).
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