David Haye is one of only three men to have unified world titles in the 200lbs ranks before winning a belt at heavyweight.
The Londoner burst onto the pro scene in 2002 following an amateur career of 83 wins and just 13 losses, snagging the English and European Cruiserweight belts before winning the WBC and WBA World titles against Jean Marc Mormeck in 2007.
At heavyweight he didn’t manage to unify, coming up short against great Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko.
Taking part in The Ring Magazine’s Best I Faced feature, Haye ran through his career to award his opponents accordingly. He gave best chin to heavyweight giant Nikolai Valuev – although the Brit would wobble him sensationally before winning his first heavyweight world title on the cards – and branded bitter rival turned pal Derek Chisora the strongest.
Of Tony Bellew – who beat Haye twice in a bitter rivalry – he said:
“Tony Bellew had a great boxing IQ and formulated a very good game plan with [trainer] Dave Coldwell. They knew what their strengths and weaknesses were, they knew what mine were, and they had a great game plan and were able to execute on two occasions.”
‘The Hayemaker’ believes the best he fought overall was either Klitschko or Valuev, but says the man who hit him the hardest was one Monte Barrett.
“I remember him hitting me and being shocked at the difference in punch power between him and the cruiserweights. He was a very heavy-handed guy.”
Career-long heavyweight Barrett hailed from North Carolina and was Haye’s seconds taste of the top division after his unified run at cruiserweight. The powerful Brit would win by stoppage in the fifth but not before feeling Barrett’s return fire.
Barrett hung up the gloves following a loss to Cuba’s Luis Ortiz in 2014 with a record of 35 wins, 20 by knockout, and 11 losses.
