Who will Haye box next? BBN considers the options by Jonny Callender Jun 3rd 2008

On Tuesday last week, whilst updating the boxing world with the latest moves being made by his ‘Hayemaker Boxing' outfit, David Haye himself announced his plan of attack as he looks to storm through the heavyweight division.   BBN reported on Haye's refusal to entertain the idea of fighting Bedford's Matt Skelton and his resolute stand on never working with Frank Warren's Sports Network again.   Haye then discussed his future plans regarding his deal with Golden Boy Promotions and Setanta Sports and stated, “I have an agreement with Setanta Sports that will only see me box top ten-ranked heavyweights from now on”.   When considering who exactly he will meet in his next bout, Haye remained speculative and explained, “It will be an exciting fight against a dangerous, top ten-ranked heavyweight”.   When his manager Adam Booth was asked directly who his charge would be fighting next on last night's 5 Live Boxing show, he deflected it by saying that if fellow promoters knew who they were looking at, they would try and sign them up in order to make life difficult for the Hayemaker.   Haye's intentions to avoid unchallenging contests is admirable, however, the term ‘top ten-ranked heavyweight' is more than a little ambiguous, as the four main governing bodies (WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF) do not maintain the same rankings.   There are some heavyweights that are common to more than one top-ten list such as Kali Meehan, Sultan Ibragimov, Chris Arreola, Hasim Rahman, John Ruiz and veteran Andrew Golota as well as a few others. The only fighter to be ranked by all four organizations is Ukranian born Alex Dimitrenko, who appears in the top five in all of the listings.   There are also fighters who appear as ‘one-off' anomalies in these heavyweight rankings, such as Eddie Chambers and Donnell Holmes, and these are men who one would imagine that Haye would rather not share a ring with as he is looking to make a statement.   So who will Haye choose?   Possibilities such as John Ruiz and Hasim Rahman, who have both previously lost to men that have climbed the weight divisions (Ruiz lost to former middleweights Jones Jr and Toney whilst Rahman lost to former cruiserweight Holyfield) have been mentioned. This would seem a sensible route to take as Haye is naturally bigger than Jones, Toney or Holyfield at heavyweight.   If Haye really wants to make a statement he could clash with one of Klitschko's former opponents and look to win in more impressive fashion then the man who is generally recognized as the best heavyweight in the world. This would mean fighting Sultan Ibragimov, whom Klitschko earned a labored and dull decision from; or perhaps Tony Thompson, who is scheduled to box Klitschko next month.   Whatever Haye chooses to do, having studied the list of heavyweight ‘contenders', there are no fighters in the rankings that Haye could not beat and he has every right to be confident about his heavyweight dream. No boxer in the rankings has more boxing ‘skill' than him, although there are those who may be able to equal him.   However, Haye's success as a heavyweight is more a question of how well he will take a flush shot from one of the sports ‘big men' rather than a question of his own ability.   RANK WBC WBA IBF WBO   CHAMPION Sam Peter (NIG) Ruslan Chagaev (UZB) Wladimir Klitschko (UKR) Wladimir Klitschko (UKR) 1 Vladimir Virchis (UKR) Nocolay Valuev (RUS) Alex Povetkin (RUS) Tony Thompson (USA) 2 Juan Carlos Gomez (CUB) John Ruiz (PUE) NOT RATED Alex Dimitrenko (UKR) 3 John Ruiz (PUE) Kali Meehan (AUS) Hasim Rahman (USA) Vladimir Virchis (UKR)   4 Hasim Rahman (USA) Taras Bidenko (UKR) Alex Dimitrenko (UKR) Alex Povetkin (RUS) 5 Alexander Dimitrenko (UKR) Alex Dimitrenko (UKR) Sultan Ibragimov (RUS) Sultan Ibragimov (Rus) 6 Oleg Maskaev (KAZ) Andrew Golota (POL) John Ruiz (PUE) Oleg Maskaev (KAZ) 7 Chris Arreola (USA) Kevin Johnson (USA) Oleg Maskaev (KAZ) J.D Chapman (USA) 8 Andrew Golota (POL) Serguei Liakhovich (BLR) Eddie Chambers (USA) Travis Walker (USA) 9 Kali Meehan (AUS) J.D Chapman (USA) Tony Thompson (USA) Kali Meehan (AUS) 10 Donnell Holmes (USA) Carl Drummond (COS) Chris Arreola (USA) Chris Arreola (USA)

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