Is Haye really a 'proper' heavyweight?

[White_Knight]

David weighed in at 210 lbs tonight, but 217 lbs in the Klitschko fight. Even though Earnie Shavers and others weighed in at 210, it is very low by today's standards. It also means that Haye's swollen toe accounted for 7 lbs of his body weight in the Klitschko fight. Therefore, when Haye is uninjured, he is a cruiserweight. But when he has an annihilated toe, he is a heavyweight.

[gmc_rfc_06]

Haye is a throwback heavyweight in terms of size.

In this current age though, no. He is what he is and that is a blown up cruiser who happens to have the speed, power and ability to beat guys who have big weight advantages.

[Shameful]

yes he's a real HW.

Haye's problem in dealing with big men isnt his size, its his stamina and mentality. He just doesnt want to take the risks that are required against the super sized guys. And he seems to run out of puff pretty quickly so he doesnt want to get weighed down by them in close.

Haye is not a small HW. He's just not huge. Holyfield and Tyson are modern examples of guys who arent massive yet would be much more willing and capable of dealing with the super HWs. More stamina, and a different mental make up.

Not only mental make up but they also had better chins than Haye so would be more willing to engage.

[gingeralbino]

Yeah I think the Holyfield comparison is a fair one! Him being the well-conditioned little guy who could get the job done against bigger men.

And the stamina question has been around since his crusier days.

and as its also been pointed out, his chin isnt top notch. So in reality he could never fight like Holy even if he somehow managed to imporve his gas tank (a LOT).

In a hypothetical if he could fight hard for 12 rounds, and had the mentality of a guy who was willing to go life and death to get the win (which, u never know he might have if he'd the confidence his chin was up to scratch), he'd still get KTFO if he mixed it up with the bigger men. A man has got to know his own limitations, and Haye does and fights accordingly.

Even Smokin Joe got KTFO against Foreman and he'd heart and stamina in quan****** that most humans could ever dream of.

Haye is big enough, his stamina can be worked on but he's an explosive fighter and trains to emphasise that as obv. he feels its a bigger advantage. His heart and chin cant be improved (although like i said if his chin was better he might be more willing to mix it up more but i have my doubts)

[gingeralbino]

Not only mental make up but they also had better chins than Haye so would be more willing to engage.

damn u just took 2 lines to say what i did in about 15. The guinness is def starting to kick in!

[Sparked_26]

I don't really question Haye's mentality at all. His fights with guys his own size are often firefights.

The risk to reward with the bigger guys might be to great or the punching angles just aren't there. Realistically, Chisora could have caught Haye on the ropes but David backed himself to get there first.