Former WBA World heavyweight champion David Haye (26-2, 24 KOs) is returning to active duty after a three and half year hiatus.
The former WBA Super World cruiserweight champion, Haye won the WBA heavyweight title in 2009 by winning a majority decision over reigning and defending champion Nicolay Valuev. He defended his title twice in 2010, stopping John Ruiz and Audley Harrison, before losing his crown to formidable Wladimir Klitschko.
Haye last fought in September 2012 when he defeated one-time heavyweight hopeful Dereck Chisora in five rounds. The Hayemaker looked good that night, using his speed and athleticism to defeat the plodding Zimbabwean. But since then he has been besieged by injuries that have scuttled his attempts to return to the ring.
But this time may be different.
On Saturday, January 16, 2005, Haye, from Bermondsey, London, United Kingdom, is getting it on with #10 ranked Mark “The Dominator” de Mori (30-1-2, 26 KOs), from Split, Croatia, by way of Perth, Australia, at the O2 Arena in Greenwich.
“One of the first people to pop up was Mark de Mori,” said Haye. “So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll fight you.’ I checked out his record. It was okay. He ranked in the top 10. Okay, you’ve got a lot of knockouts. I looked through the record. I didn’t see anyone of real significance in my opinion. But he hasn’t had his shot yet. But we’ll see on January 16th whether The Dominator can dominate the The Hayemaker. I very much doubt that.”
Haye needs to get his feet wet before diving into a pool of sharks. But a quick glance a de Mori’s record is revealing. The Dominator has won his last seven fights, against Adnan Buhahalija and Ivica Perkovic in 2013, Buhahalija (in a rematch), Marino Goles, and Zeljko Bojic in 2014, and Radenko Kovac and Marcel Zeller this year. They are, as Haye pointed out, not “anyone of real significance,” and the same applies to their combined 121-79-4 record.
Numbers don’t lie, but the only number that matters is three and half, the number of years Haye has been inactive.
“I’ve been out of the ring for three and a half years,” he said, “so there may be some question marks. Maybe he’s going to get some confidence from the fact that I’ve been inactive for so long. But most of my idols—Muhammad Ali had three and a half years out. He lost his comeback fight, but he was fighting Joe Frazier. I don’t believe this guy is in Joe Frazier’s league. Vitali Klitschko, for instance, was out for four years. The great George Foreman was out for 10 years. All these guys came back, not only to greatness, but they regained the heavyweight championship of the world, and that’s my intent.”
Having watched the rollout of this phase of Haye’s career, Carl Froch shared his thoughts with Sky Sports.
“Personally I feel anybody that’s out of the ring for over a year has been out too long,” he said. “So if you’re asking me if David Haye has been out too long, yes, I think he has. But if he’s training, which he obviously is, but training properly and he’s having successful spars, like heavy sparring sessions that he’s drawing confidence from and he feels like he’s still got it, then there’s no reason why he shouldn’t get back in there. I think David Haye’s a really exciting addition to the heavyweight division. He’s certainly proven that over the years with some of the people he’s boxed. I know he fell short against Klitschko, maybe got his tactics wrong, but Klitschko was almost a foot taller and a couple of stone heavier than him, so it was a tough task to do anything against Klitschko. But David Haye is a world-class operator and I wish him all the best.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DphMXV9MU1k
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
