Hall of Famer Carl Froch has considered the outcome of a hypothetical all-British heavyweight clash between Anthony Joshua and David Haye.
‘The Hayemaker’ had actually called out Joshua on multiple occasions in 2016, only to lose his domestic dustup with Tony Bellew the following year.
This, however, was hardly the most formidable version of Haye, who moved up to heavyweight following consecutive stoppages of Jean Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinelli at 200lbs.
The Londoner then went on to dethrone 7ft giant Nikolai Valuev, edging a majority decision to claim the WBA title in their 2009 encounter.
Under two years later, though, he ended up losing a unanimous decision to Wladimir Klitschko, citing his broken toe as one of the reasons for his convincing defeat.
But still, Haye produced a far more assertive performance in his following outing, stopping the typically durable Derek Chisora in five rounds.
Former world champion Froch has therefore told NewBettingSites that he would back the vicious sharpshooter to defeat Joshua.
“I fancy Haye. He was so quick, had explosive power, and Joshua can’t take a punch. I don’t think Joshua actually likes it when he’s fighting. I don’t think he enjoys it.
“[Whereas] The Hayemaker used to lick his lips, get in there and love it. I think the tenacity of Haye and the explosive power wins it.
“People will say, ‘Look at Haye against Klitschko. Klitschko was too big for him’. [But] Klitschko was cute – holding back, staying out of the way, being tricky and horrible.
“AJ is not that good. AJ beat a 42-year-old Klitschko who had been on the sofa for 18 months.”
Joshua did, indeed, become a unified champion by climbing off the canvas to stop Klitschko in their 2017 thriller.
