By Mark Vester
Former undisputed cruiserweight champion David Haye has promised to show the boxing public on November 15 that his chin is better than many think. Haye will face ranked heavyweight Monte "Two Gunz" Barrett at Greenwich’s 02 Arena in London. Because Haye was dropped and rocked a few times at the cruiserweight level, many experts believe that he's going to struggle against hard punching heavyweights. Haye believes his chin will take Barrett's punches.
"I’ve talked about big, slow and flabby heavyweights but this guy isn’t - he comes into the ring in shape and he’s hungry. He’s got three knockout victories on the spin and he’s going to test my chin at some stage in the first couple of rounds," Haye told the South London Press.
"When a couple of his guns bounce off my chin, how am I going to react? Some people think I’m going to fall on the floor and go to sleep, but I think I will come through it. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when I get hit by a genuine heavyweight puncher. I can’t go through this fight without it happening. That’s why I’ve got so many fans. They know I won’t mess around for 20 fights before testing myself. I’m not going to waste time - if I can’t take a heavyweight punch I need to find out now.”
"You can either take big shots or you can’t. You can have all the skills and ability but if your punch resistance is not there than it is not there. But I’m sure I can do better at heavyweight than at cruiserweight. This guy has been used to wrestling with big guys and holding his own with all of them so I expect him to come in there and try and rough me up.
Haye plans to follow the road of his idol, Evander Holyfield, who cleaned out the cruiserweight division and moved up in weight to unify the heavyweight division.
"But I look at Evander Holyfield, one of my idols, and how he coped with it. He was an exceptional little man fighting good big men and I would like to think of myself in the same category. It’s a massive gamble. It could go violently pear-shaped in 20 seconds or I’ll be like the best thing since Mike Tyson - that’s why people are interested in the fight," Haye said.
If Barrett pulls out the win, Haye says that he will probably retire from the sport.
"If I can’t get through Barrett, what’s the point? It means I’m definitely not going to be able to beat Klitschko. I would probably call it a day because I’ve got high standards. I called his name out as soon as I moved up to heavyweight, so if I stumbled at the first step I’m just a joker and I won’t embarrass myself anymore," Haye said.
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