By Frank Warren
David Haye stopped John Ruiz last weekend to maintain his status as WBA heavyweight champion – but I want to see him in with a ‘live heavyweight’ the jury is still out until then.
Haye did as expected - you can only defeat what’s put in front of you, and by dropping Ruiz four times, he made things exciting.
But let’s not get carried away – Ruiz had effectively lost four of his previous seven fights, and at 38, had seen better days.
Haye has been in the right place at the right time in fighting Nikolay Valuev and Ruiz, because the pair are probably the worst two heavyweight world champions of all time.
After the fight, Haye, 29, said he was glad he’d won because he didn’t want to be like Frank Bruno and lose his title in his first defence.
That is unfair to Bruno. Other than the Klitschko’s the heavyweights of his generation were far superior to today’s. If Bruno had been around today, he would have had a lengthy reign.
Haye says the Klitschko brothers are next on the agenda, and a fight against either Vitali or Wladimir will be a huge money-spinner.
However German promoters Sauerland still have two options on Haye, and they’ll be calling the shots. Their preference might be for Haye to face Valuev again, which isn’t an attractive option from a fans point of view, or they could ask for more options, if they don’t enforce the rematch clause with Haye but they may just go for this money and make the Klitschko fight.
Plenty of boxers say they’ll only have a couple of fights at the top before retiring, but Haye seems to genuinely mean it when he insists he’ll leave the sport by the time he is 31.
Commercially it would make sense for Haye to have a couple more fights to build his profile overseas, but given the given the time restraints, it looks like he’ll try to go straight for the money too with the Klitschkos.
You’ve got to admire his determination, but Vitali and Wladimir are very different prospects to Ruiz and Valuev.
On Saturday, Haye was caught by Ruiz, he took more shots than he needed to but could afford to with a light puncher and didn’t maintain a fast pace throughout the fight.
He made the valid point that if you are a boxer, you have to be prepared to be hit.
But if either of the Klitschkos connects, they are going to have Haye in big trouble.
Wladimir has looked vulnerable in the past but hasn’t been beaten for six years, while even Lennox Lewis couldn’t shift Vitali.
Whatever happens with his next fight, it doesn’t look as if Haye will box again until November.
By then, he’ll have only fought four times in three years. In an ideal world, he’d have been much busier.
He calls himself the Hayemaker, but he needs to start making Haye while the sun shines.
After all, Wladimir Klitschko has fought at world level for more than a decade, and he’s only just turned 34.
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Bernard Hopkins finally avenged his loss to Roy Jones at the weekend, defeating his nemesis on points.
Hopkins immediately called out David Haye, but there’s no way he’s going to heavyweight.
The most likely scenario is a showdown with light-heavyweight number one Chad Dawson – or retirement.
I expected Hopkins to stop Jones, but he opted for a safety-first approach to get the win.
Despite being 45, Hopkins has managed to fight on because he’s in great shape and knows how to look after himself.
Jones, on the other hand, has now lost six of his last 11 fights and has ruined what was once an impressive legacy. To me he just about won a round. It was a dirty scrappy affair. Hopkins hit the canvas a couple of times after being caught with rabbit punches which led to one observer saying ‘Hopkins has a glass back of the head’.
Jones should call it a day. The only man to have beaten both Jones and Hopkins was in the States last week for a press conference held by Golden Boy, and you can bet your bottom dollar Richard Schaefer was trying to persuade Joe Calzaghe to come out of retirement.
He'll want Calzaghe to have a rematch with Hopkins.
The Welshman shouldn’t come back, but after the trial by media he’s suffered in the last few weeks, he might be tempted to take refuge in the thing he knows best.
It would be a surprise if he returned, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility.
* **
Calzaghe had to deal with more revelations last Sunday, with his ex-girlfriend, Jo-Emma, dishing the dirt on his cocaine habit.
She also said that he used to kiss his muscles when looking at himself in the mirror – at least somebody loved him!
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Schools from Manchester, Rochdale, Bury and Middleton participated in a competition last week. Hundreds of spectators watched the kids boxing skills in 22 contests.
Points were awarded in a new form of boxing for boxing skills, self discipline and scoring on the target area.
Pupils with disabilities were acting as officials – Good to see boxing having a positive impact on young kids and communities.
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Facing Ali is the latest documentary about Muhammad Ali on release in the US.
There are deep and philosophical interviews with former foes Joe Frazier, George Chuvalo, Larry Holmes, George Forman and Ken Norton.
It also touches on Ali’s connection with Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan including tapes of Farrakhan’s death threats against Washington Post writer Milton Coleman.
Can’t wait to see it.
