By Lem Satterfield

WBA heavyweight champion David Haye of England has expressed confidence that he will register his 16th straight victory and his 14th knockout during that run on Saturday night against WBO, IBF and IBO counterpart Wladimir Klitschko of the Ukraine.

But the 34-year-old Klitschko (55-3, 49 knockouts) has vowed to earn his 14th straight win, his 11th knockout during that run and career stoppage No. 50 against the 30-year-old Haye (25-1, 23 KOs).

Their bitter feud of words has been ongoing since June of 2009, when Haye angered Klitschko and his older brother, 39-yeare-old WBC king Vitali Klitschko (42-2, 39 KOs),  by showing up at a press conference in Germany wearing a T-shirt depicting a cartoon of himself standing in a ring while holding their decapitated heads with their lifeless bodies at his feet.

Haye is coming off of November's third-round stoppage of then-38-year-old fellow Englishman, Audley Harrison (27-5, 20 KOs) in Manchester, England.

In Harrison, the Haye overcame a southpaw who stood nearly three inches taller at 6-foot-5 and a half, and who out-weighed Haye, 210-to-253.

The nearly 6-7 Wladimir Klitschko weighed a career-high 247 pounds for September's 10th-round stoppage of Samuel Peter (34-4, 27 KOs).

BoxingScene.com sought the opinions of 13 of the sport's insiders as to their views on Saturday night's Klitschko-Haye affair.

Bob Canobbio, CompuBoxOnline.com -- Wladimir Klitschko KO 11 David Haye: Can David Haye get past Wladimir Klitschko's dominating jab? Klitschko threw more jabs per round -- 37 -- than Haye threw total punches -- 26 -- during each of their last four fights.

There were 70 percent of Klitschko's thrown punches that were jabs and 67 percent of his landed punches that were jabs. Both are economical with the power punches, each landing an average of just six per round. That's half the heavyweight average. Haye's got a puncher's chance: He is not going to outbox Wladdy. 

Mike Coppinger, USA Today, Ring Magazine, BoxingScene.com -- David Haye KO 5 Wladimir Klitschko: I'm going with David Haye by fifth round KO of Wladimir Klitschko to become the lineal and Ring heavyweight champion of the world.

Klitschko is accustomed to fighting slow, plodding, out-of-shape heavies. But in Haye, he will fight an elite talent -- a young boxer with great speed who can punch from all angles and with power.

The key is for Haye to disrupt Klitschko's rhythm and blitz him from the onset, which I expect the Brit to do. He can't let Klitschko get comfortable and he can not allow Klitschko to take shots from behind his jab.

Haye needs Wlad boxing off his back foot -- something he isn't particularly adept at. Of course, this is a heavyweight fight between two chinny punchers, so to me it's a 50-50 call.

But I expect Haye to surprise the public and to dethrone Wlad, using his youth, excellent shape, punching prowess, speed and killer instinct to win this monumental clash. Haye KO 5.

David Greisman, BoxingScene.com-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 9 David Haye: I think that Wladimir Klitschko will be forced to survive some frightening moments against David Haye. But I see him catching Haye with a big right hand in the ninth round and stopping him.

Steve Farhood, Showtime Boxing Analyst-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 6 David Haye: David Haye could go two routes here: Use his speed and jump in and out, or induce a slugfest. I hope that he chooses the latter.

Either way, I have to think that Wladimir Klitschko's right hand and Haye's decidedly unChuvalo-like chin will combine to produce a mid-rounds kayo for Dr. K. Wladimir Klitschko by knockout in the sixth.

Norm Frauenheim, 15rounds.com-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 10 David Haye: Say something often enough, loudly enough, and the theory is that the public will begin to believe. Dave Haye almost convinced me. Almost.

Yeah, he can beat Wladimir Klitschko, but he’ll have to get lucky. That means risk, and there will be plenty of it in the face of Klitschko’s punishing jab, superior size and big right.

Since the fight was announced, I’ve changed my mind repeatedly. But never about the winner. It’s always been Klitschko, underrated mostly because there’s been no way to be great in a weak heavyweight division.

Against Haye, the question has always been how. Haye’s speed will confront and probably confuse the studious Ukrainian in the early rounds. But Hayes will have to work his way inside.

As he does, Klitschko’s jab, a power punch in its own right, will slow him down. Klitschko’s habit of tying up and leaning on quicker, smaller opponents will fatigue him. A Klitschko right will stop him.   

Thomas Gerbasi, BoxingScene.com ---- David Haye TKO 9 Wladimir Klitschko: I gotta feeling. David Haye is in Wladimir Klitschko's head, and if Wlad gets into a firefight, Haye has the speed and power to make every shot count. I'm calling for the upset.

Lee Harris, In The Corner Boxing Radio-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 9 David Haye: For all the talk and hype coming from Haye, I doubt he’s going to open fast and go for the early KO.  Instead, I think he’ll be very cautious early on, as will Klitschko.

The first few rounds will be boring, but by the third round I think both fighters will open up a little.  We’ll see Haye land more effective punches than any recent Klitschko opponent has landed, and he’ll certainly have his moments.

However, Klitschko will control the fight with his absurdly effective jab-right hand combo, while clinching every time Haye gets inside.  From the clinch, Klitschko will lean on Haye and force him to the ropes, where he can then land a big shot or two off the break.  This pattern will continue for most of the fight.

Late in the fight, Klitschko will land something huge, flooring Haye.  And though Haye will rise to his feet, Klitschko will pounce on him and finish the fight with another knockdown, prompting the ref to wave off the bout.

Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports-- Wladimir Klitschko W 12 David Haye: Despite all of the trash talk and the venom, I think this is going to be a conservatively fought bout, for two reasons.

First, Wladimir Klitschko is a conservative guy, and as long as he's able to keep that jab popping in David Haye's face, he's going to rely on that and not take unnecessary risks. Haye has always been better from a distance, and I don't see how he gets past that jab enough to test Wlad's chin.

So I think it winds up being a slow-paced jabbing contest with Klitschko hammering away enough to win clearly.

Steve Kim, MaxBoxing.com-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 10 David Haye: I like Wladimir Klitschko to control the center of the ring and the tempo with his jab. I expect David Haye to expend a lot of nervous energy and jump around the ring.

Eventually, things will settle down with Klitschko slowly taking over and catching up to Haye to stop him in the tenth

Kieran Mulvaney, ESPN Boxing and Reuters-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 9 or 10 David Haye: So far, we have seen two ways in which Wladimir Klitschko can lose. 1) Blown out early with a full-fronted assault (see sanders, Corrie).

2) Soak up the punishment and wear him down until he tightens and wears himself out (see, Puritty, Ross; Brewster, Lamon). I’m not sure David Haye tries either of these. I actually think, despite being the shorter man, that he may try and stay outside of Klitschko’s long reach.

He may try and make Klitschko step forward and punch down to negate his height and reach advantages, and look for an opportunity to throw quick-fire counter flurries.
I’m not expecting Haye to throw a lot of punches, and I’m expecting Klitschko to try and tie him up when he moves inside.

It will be tense and frequently enthralling but not necessarily exciting, except in spots. The likelihood is that Klitschko stops him late, but if Haye hasn’t found any success by the end, he may be content to stay out of danger and make it to the final bell.

Haye won’t win on points, but he may make it through to land a combination. And if he does stun Klitschko, he’ll have to unload furiously and go for the finish. I’m tempted to say Haye by KO, tempted to say Klitschko on points, but I’ll say Klitschko by TKO around 9 or 10.

Michael Rosenthal, RingTV.com-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 7 David Haye: A good big man beats a good little man. That's the case at least the vast majority of the time.
David Haye might have the speed and athleticism -- and perhaps power -- to give Wladimir Klitschko more trouble than he has seen in years.

But Haye remains a small heavyweight. And a small heavyweight is going to have to have remarkable ability to beat a man as big and skillful as Klitschko, who has more speed and athleticism than he is given credit for. I think this one ends in the middle rounds with Haye flat on his back. Klitschko by seventh-round KO.

Joseph Santoliquito, Managing Editor Ring Magazine-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 8 David Haye: I don't think that I've ever seen Wladimir Klitschko this angry before. His eyes were pitching daggers at David Haye during the HBO Face Off interview with Max Kellerman.

Haye was right. You weren't only able to cut through the animosity and tension in the TV studio when the two were face-to-face, you could feel Klitschko's boiling aggression through widescreen plasmas throughout the world. This promises to be a wild, exciting fight. Let's hope it is.

Many sports fans in the United States don't even know who David Haye is. They will after this fight. After both fighters inflict great shots on one another, and get each other in serious trouble, I feel Klitschko's great resolve will buoy him enough to stop Haye in the eighth. But it could potentially be the kind of fight fans will clamor for to see again.

Don Steinberg, Philadelphia Inquirer/Wall Street Journal-- Wladimir Klitschko KO 11 David Haye: Wladimir Klitschko's incomplete resume has left us begging for him to fight an aggressive, athletic opponent.

So it's become easy to forget how incomplete David Haye's resume is. His big breakthrough was exposing overrated Enzo Maccarinelli, who has lost three of seven fights since. And Haye's his victories over John Ruiz, Nikolai Valuev and Audley Harrison would still make you wonder what all the fuss is about if Haye weren't such a great agitator.

Across a debate table it's a toss-up. But in the ring it'll be harder for Haye to talk a good game.

The experts have chosen Wladimir Klitschko to defeat David Haye by the margin of 11-2.