By Rick Reeno

BoxingScene.com was informed by promoter Joe DeGuardia that David Haye (21-1, 20KOs) may have bailed on the potential fight with undefeated heavyweight prospect Kevin "Kingpin" Johnson (27-0-1, 7KOs). Last week, Haye's reps contacted DeGuardia and began negotiating for Johnson to meet the former cruiserweight champ on November 15 at the O2 Arena in London.

Haye is scheduled to announce his 11/15 opponent during a Tuesday press conference in the UK, and DeGuardia was confident that a deal would be finalized for Johnson to meet Haye, but as of tonight - DeGuardia has not heard back from the Haye camp.

"They were calling me last week and we discussed the fight, but since then our phones have been cold," DeGuardia said.

There were stories going around that negotiations fell apart at the late hour over money, but DeGuardia says those reports are not true. Johnson is ready, willing and able to face Haye. 

"This is not about money. Kevin Johnson is ready and available to fight David Haye on November 15," DeGuardia said.

One source told BoxingScene that Haye may have watched videos of Johnson, including his recent breakdown knockout of former heavyweight champ Bruce Seldon, and felt the prospect's boxing ability may give him some trouble. DeGuardia has heard the same news going around the industry.

A disturbing bit of news that several sources have told me, which DeGuardia has heard from several sources as well, is that Haye is now looking at undefeated JD Chapman (29-0, 26KOs). Chapman may have an appealing record on the outside, but on the inside his record is filled with a hearty amount of homegrown Arkansas stiffs and no-hopers. 

For a guy who says he can beat the best heavyweights in the world, like Wladimir Klitschko and Samuel Peter, he seems to picking at the bottom of the barrel. This is not a knock on Chapman's potential abilities, but the guy has not faced world-class competition or even semi-world class competition and he's never been close to the big stage. He's ranked 9 by the WBA and 7 by the WBO, satisfying Haye's UK television contract which calls for him to fight a heavyweight ranked in the top-ten by a major sanctioning body.

With all the hype, mostly coming from Haye, regarding his heavyweight re-debut and how he's going to clean up the heavyweights - is Chapman the best he could get?

During several conversations over the past few weeks, I know that Lou DiBella has Monte Barrett (ranked 9 by the WBO) ready to fight. Promoter Dan Goossen has Eddie Chambers and James Toney ready to fight. Don King has Andrew Golota ready to fight. Top Rank has Hasim Rahman ready to fight.

"If Haye really wants to prove that he's a world class heavyweight on the level of an Alexander Povetkin, then he needs to fight someone like Eddie Chambers or James Toney," Goossen told BoxingScene two-weeks ago.

The money being offered for the fight is piss-poor and Haye can't expect some of these guys to accept a lowball figure, and at the same time he can't go around shouting off that no heavyweight wants to fight him. There is a line of heavyweights waiting at the door to fight Haye. Some of the them, like Barrett and Johnson, are willing to take the offer to head over.

"David Haye wants nothing to do with Monte Barrett," DiBella said.