Former two-weight world champion David Haye has spoken about the most difficult fighters he has ever faced in the ring.
Haye quickly became known for his speed and explosive power as he made his way to the top of the sport, first making his mark as a cruiserweight by becoming unified world champion.
He later moved up to heavyweight, where he captured the WBA strap in 2009 by defeating the towering Russian Nikolai Valuev in a fight that was billed as David vs Goliath. That made him one of the few fighters in history to unify the 200lbs ranks and win a heavyweight world title. He later said of Valuev’s chin, “I hit him with some of my best punches and all I managed to do was break my hand,” though he did manage to wobble him in the final round.
Although dogged by injury, he had two final fights against Tony Bellew and lost both by stoppage to head into retirement with a record of 28 wins, 26 by KO and 4 losses, including one to unified ruler Wladimir Klitschko on points.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine, Haye couldn’t split Valuev and Klitschko when naming the best he faced.
“Either Wladimir Klitschko or Valuev, one of those two. I’d love for them to have fought each other. I’d love to have seen how Wladimir would have dealt with someone a lot bigger than himself. He always seemed to have the physical advantages over people.
“It’s a mixture of the two, they’re the two most difficult, they had such physical advantages over me. I was able to implement my plan significantly better against Valuev. If I fought Wladimir the same night I fought Valuev, I believe the result may have been different. I knew that wasn’t the best of me. It’s very close between Wladimir and Valuev. It sounds crazy because I lost to one and beat one, but the fights were at different times in my life. Lots of things were different before both of those fights. To be fair to both of them, I’d say 50-50.”
Haye didn’t have such a problem when asked to name the hardest puncher he faced – saying without doubt that Deontay Wilder in a sparring session had the most powerful punch he had ever felt.
