David Haye fought Wladimir Klitschko and has given his view on how he would have fared against his brother, Vitali Klitschko.
Haye competed from 2022 to 2018 and in that time was one of the best boxers across two divisions. He started out as a cruiserweight and became unified world champion by 2008. He was known for his explosive punching power and, after being ranked as the best in the world from 2005 to 2007, he did something only two other men, Evander Holyfield and subsequently Oleksandr Usyk, have done in moving up to also became a champion at heavyweight.
He won a world title in the banner division against Nikolai Valuev and defended it against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison before then taking on Wladimir Klitschko in 2011, losing on points across 12 rounds.
At that point, Wladimir’s brother Vitali had already long been a heavyweight champion, having failed at his first attempt back in 2003 when he lost to Lennox Lewis after the fight was stopped due to a terrible cut above his eye.
The brothers always maintained they would not fight each other for the sake of their mother, making an undisputed champion during that time impossible, and Vitali retired in 2012 after retaining his WBC belt with a win over Manuel Charr.
Wladimir fought on until 2017, finally walking away after back-to-back losses to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua that ended ‘the Klitschko era.’ He had won 53 fights out of 64 by knockout when all was said and done, losing just five. Vitali’s record was 41 victories from 45 fights and only two defeats.
Speaking to TNT Sports Boxing, Haye was asked which of the brothers would have come out on top had they have fought.
“I think Vitali, big brother gets it.”
Haye retired after back-to-back defeats to Tony Bellew in 2017 and 2018, and would later named Wladimir and Valuev as the best he ever faced.
The younger Klitschko has since teased a comeback, keen on breaking George Foreman’s record as the oldest heavyweight world champion in history.
