2010 For WBA Heavyweight Champion David Haye

When David Haye beat Nikolai Valuev I was surprised. Personally I thought the judges in Valuevs adopted German home country would be sympathetic to his ongoing attack and punish Haye for what was a largely negative boxing performance, later attributed to a broken hand suffered when punching Valuev in the second round. Many UK Boxing betting fans went home happy after Haye became the first Britain since Lennox Lewis to win a recognised version of the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship belt.

David is brash and cocky and uses the press conferences as a media spectacle rather than an honest interaction with the media before a big fight. He wants to rile his opponents into forgetting their game plan and trying to hurt him. His speed around the ring as a former Cruiserweight World Champion helps him quickly turn the fight in his favour if this happens. He has fast hands and a big heart and plenty of confidence, all the ingredients of a top boxer.

After winning the WBA belt Haye must now fight John Ruiz who is the mandatory challenger for his title. Despite Ruiz being an experienced and durable heavyweight most boxing fans would expect Haye to beat Ruiz. This fight is scheduled to be arranged for around March 2010. Haye will undoubtedly be heavily supported in the betting markets for this fight so I will be getting in early to get the best price as any value will be immediately snapped up by loyal punters who support the Hayemaker. Look out for the fight announcement as odds will be available soon after for that fight.

Providing Haye dispatches the challenge of Ruiz there will be massive calls for him to finally step in the ring with one of the Klitschko brothers. Wladimir would be the obvious choice for me but the better fighter of the two, Vitali, would be a bigger box office draw and perhaps that is the obvious first brother to face Haye. I hope that Haye fights Wladimir first because if he can win that fight he will then go on to face Vitali in what would be a bigger fight. At the moment Vitali looks very good in the ring handily beating Kevin Simpson in a twelve round contest where Simpson, despite a gritty and brave performance, looked thoroughly outclassed against Vitali Klitschko.

If Haye fights Wladimir first then it gives father time longer to work on Vitali. He would be 39 by the time a fight occurred at the back end of 2010 or early 2011 and the additional delay before they meet would build the hype further and earn them more money. If age becomes a factor for Vitali Haye may win more easily than people expect. Haye would not have been favourite fighting either of the Klitschko brothers last year and perhaps the two fight cancellations will work out well for him by training more and allowing age to become a factor for the brothers.

If Haye was to fight Vitali now and lose it would be unlikely that Wladimir would be seen as a step up in class as it is widely regarded that Vitali is the best Klitschko. If Haye really wants to beat both, he must fight Wladimir first. Boxing betting fans would be heavily involved in both fights for sure with plenty of special and outright betting.

David Haye will be enjoying a good Christmas and New Year with his family with his future mapped out clearly for him. All he must do is win his boxing bouts and money, fame and his legacy will take care of itself. I expect he will easily beat Ruiz and look to set up a fight against Wladimir for around November 2010. After winning that fight he would look to face Vitali in a Heavyweight boxing superfight in around March or April 2011 and he has indicated that after those three fights he would probably retire.

We British boxing fans will continue to support him during this interesting boxing period and get some profitable bets on hopefully in the process!

By Malcolm Clarke