Looking back at David Hayes career.....

[daggum]

Great cruiserweight. Average HW who marketed himself very well.

great? enzo mac and an aging mormeck. hmmm not so great. holyfield great, usyk great, haye opportunist

[champion4ever]

I remember a prime David Haye as an overachieving great fighter, who had exceeded the public's expectations of him. He was a multiple divisional titleholder; With great punching power and balls for a man his size, good defense, speed, boxing ability and a good chin.

[Kezzer]

Haye saw his opportunity for fame and grabbed it both hands. He was always over rated and took the uk fan train along with him; he showed glimpses of world class level; but consistently fell short particularly at the very elite end.

I am still a bit disappointed Bellew beat him twice though as the Joshua Haye fight could’ve been an absolute monster in the UK

[iamboxing]

He was on the cover of Fight Night Champion for the PS3.

[alexguiness]

A bit of a tit...with an oversized ego.

[EnglishOxide]

Wasted his prime years trying to be a celebrity.

[Mexican_Puppet]

Pretty normal champion

[Madison Boxing]

Overrated. Always hear how he was some amazing crusierweight but who exactly did he beat?

[Armchairhero]

I thought he was a c**t, until he took on Carl Thompson very early in his career. He took a proper beating in that fight but never gave up

[Scopedog]

The furore around his fight with Valuev was probably the first time I started paying attention to boxing, and as such I only really remember what he was like after that. Him beating Valuev was pretty impressive but his showing against Klitschko was embarassing, his fight against Chisora an ugly episode, and then there were all the cancelled fights (I had tickets to Haye-Fury as a birthday present, you ruined my birthday David) and then the horrid mismatches against nobodies from eastern Europe and Australia and then the two humiliating losses to Bellew. Combine all that with all the trash talk that he never backed up and all said and done my memories of him after his impressive win over Valuev made him look like a clown. That's the David Haye I know.

That said, I've been watching his fights at CW recently, before I first saw him, and he was lethal back then. He was a great fighter when he was at his best and I think he'll eventually make the HOF when the time rolls around. And he played the publicity game quite well when you think about it, love or hate him, everyone used to talk about him, even if they just wanted to see him get his arse kicked. He was one of the few british fighters that Joe Normie who doesn't follow the sport could name without difficulty.