DAVID HAYE has never fought Tyson Fury, although the two have been scheduled to box on two occasions in the past that fell through. He has however sparred many rounds with Deontay Wilder and so the former champion has a keen insight into the Wilder-Fury WBC heavyweight title clash.
Haye said, “I see Wilder winning the fight. His punch power, although he doesn’t look accurate and although he doesn’t look like he has any defence, he’s very tricky to hit with a clean shot. I’ve got quite quick hands and I had to really set my shots up. For me to hit him with a clean shot I had to do three or four hard feints and you have to hit him very hard, very quickly to get his respect. Because if you don’t he will walk right through you. And I saw that with other sparring partners.”
“You have to hit him very, very hard. He’s got a good chin as well, that’s the thing people don’t realise. He can take a shot. At no stage did I knock him over in sparring, I hit him with some big shots. His chin checked out and his punch power checked out. Fury has to in the first round hit him with something very significant to gain Wilder’s respect. If he doesn’t Wilder’s going to walk right through him and you don’t want Wilder coming at you, gaining momentum. You don’t want to be running away from Wilder, trying to get away from him. You have to stand with him and punch with him if you’ve got any chance in my opinion of having any type of success. Tyson Fury to this day hasn’t shown me that he’s the guy to hold his feet and punch with someone. He’ll try to lean away, hold grab, try and spoil, touch and move. I can’t see that style beating Deontay Wilder,” Haye continued.
“He may last a few rounds, yes. He may frustrate Wilder for a while. But at some stage Wilder’s right hand is going to hit him on the chin. I’ve seen Fury hit on the chin by a lot lesser punchers. Steve Cunningham for instance threw a big overhand right and had him on his bum. Steve Cunningham is not a noted puncher at cruiserweight, let alone at heavyweight.
“It doesn’t bode well for Tyson.”
However Haye did sound a note of caution. “But Tyson doesn’t know how to lose, he’s never lost. He’s also the much bigger man,” Haye said.
“Tyson Fury may have stuff up his sleeve I’ve never seen before…”
