By Mark Staniforth

Amid all the derision directed at David Haye in the wake of his meek defeat and even meeker excuses in Hamburg on Saturday night, one factor in his fighting future seemed to be conveniently pushed aside.

It is that whatever you made of Haye's display, particularly in the context of his crude proclamations which widely overstepped acceptable levels of pre-fight hype, he remains, potentially, a major player among the big men.

That fact alone may say a lot more about the paucity of available talent in the global heavyweight division than it does about Haye's worthy credentials when it comes to reclaiming a prize once held by heroes like Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis.

But in this day and age it is a sad fact that, while Saturday proved beyond doubt that Haye's quest to dethrone one or both of the Klitschkos will remain forever fruitless, there are few if any others more capable of following suit.

As Haye continues to ponder his future, he should swiftly come to the conclusion that the Klitschkos are now off-limits: a rematch or a crack at Vitali would be as pointless a heavyweight title shot as there has ever been.

The obvious solution is to bide his time, re-establishing his tarnished image with a match against another heavyweight contender such as Odlanier Solis, who like Haye is badly in need of a fight to repair the damage.

Solis injured his knee in the first round of his challenge to Vitali in March and has not fought since. Moreover, he holds a stoppage win over Haye dating back to the 2001 World Amateur Championships.

Other much less intriguing possibilities include showdowns against the best of the rest: the rising, unbeaten Finn Robert Helenius, slippery American Eddie Chambers, or unbeaten Russians Alexander Povetkin and Alexander Dimitrenko.

How Haye - whose retirement date of later this year remains supposedly intact - would react to taking a significant pay-cut to face those less-than-exciting names may remain to be seen.

But the bonuses for Haye in taking such challenges if he chooses to fight on are clear: he would still fancy his chances against the best of the rest, and if he hung about long enough one or both of the Klitschkos may decide their time was up.

Still, such a laborious path could only end in Haye becoming a world champion again by default, which is hardly the sort of thing that fits the image of a man who sees glory as his springboard to Hollywood and who knows where else.

He could cut his losses and give something back to the domestic fans who trudged after him to Hamburg by embroiling himself in a competitive domestic scene along with the likes of Derek Chisora, Tyson Fury and David Price.

It may a fanciful notion for economic, let alone political, reasons, but a fight with any of those three would be just as competitive - and countless times more easy to sell - than the previously mentioned mass of foreign contenders.

Haye may still consider immediate retirement his best option, but the mighty mess he made of both his pre- and post-fight media means he would head off without the kind of profile that he might otherwise have warranted.

Let us not forget that Haye unified the world cruiserweight division in explosive fashion and moved up to claim a portion of the heavyweight crown. His own tawdry hype aside, those achievements are worthy of praise.

And therein, perhaps, lies Haye's answer. If he is still capable of shrugging off the stone-and-a-half he put on for his move up to face the big men, he could fashion his glorious finale back at the lower weight.

There, the likes of American IBF champion Steve Cunningham, big-punching German Marco Huck, and perhaps even former light-heavyweight loudmouth Antonio Tarver all await.

Hardly Ali-Frazier, but each a significantly better prospect than fighting a bunch of relatively faceless eastern Europeans for Klitschko's leftovers. That way, at least, Haye could still bow out with an undisputed crown.

Only Haye will know whether his body is capable of boiling down to once again become a cruiserweight force. If not, retirement may be his best option. Whichever path he takes, he should pursue it with his mouth shut and his modesty intact.

Mark Staniforth covers the boxing scene for Press Association Sport