David Haye fought a fine array of boxing stars, but he has admitted that one stood out as stronger than them all.
Haye is one of Britain’s most celebrated boxers. He cleaned out the cruiserweight division to become undisputed champion before then moving up to heavyweight to beat giant Russian Nicolai Valuev in a fight dubbed ‘David v Goliath’ and become a heavyweight champion.
He also fought the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Auldey Harrison and had two fights with Tony Bellew at the end do this career before retiring in 2018 with a record of 28 wins from 32 fights.
When completing The Ring Magazine’s Best I Faced feature, Haye didn’t hesitate to pick his strongest opponent.
“Definitely [Derek] Chisora, he was very strong, and it took a big effort in training camp to get myself physically in the right place to walk Derek Chisora back. That, for me, was very important in that fight.”
Billed as Licensed to Thrill, this fight took place in July 2012 after a fractious and controversial build-up that involved the pair brawling and accusations from Chisora that Haye glassed him at the post-fight press conference for Chisora’s fight with Wladimir Klitschko.
The contest itself caught fire from early on with both men fighting aggressively and throwing plenty of punches. Chisora, who is now looking for his 50th and final opponent, was knocked down for the first time in his career with a left hook, then right hand in the fifth round, and although he made his feet, he was soon knocked down again and the referee waved the fight off.
