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

I watched the contest on pay-per-view and personally thought Haye was too negative and can count himself a little lucky to be the victor in the fight. He did a great job of dodging any offence from Valuev but could easily have been penalised on the scorecards for avoiding the action and not engaging. Valuev kept coming forward but was not doing anything against Haye. This may have been the deciding factor. Haye hurt Valuev in the last round and looked close to knocking him down. He certainly came through the fight looking fit and did not slow down throughout the twelve rounds. The judges felt Hayes skill in avoiding the big fighter was enough for the win.

British boxing is in a healthy situation now. We have a number of great prospects coming through in James De Gale, Frankie Gavin and Billy-Jo Saunders along with Amir Khan and Heavyweights like Sam Sexton and Martin Rogan. Even Audley Harrison won prizefighter and despite a few characteristic slow rounds, looked good doing it. The future is bright, and Haye is the standard bearer of them all. Comparisons are being made to the great Mohammed Ali who was also brash and confident as a champion.

Haye will now look to recover from his hand injury and start working his way through the queue of opponents now lined up to face him as champion. His next fight will be against John Ruiz who successfully fought on the undercard of Haye and Valuev thus earning himself a shot at the title. Ruiz is a good fight for Haye. He is not as fast as David and offers a gradual step up in class towards the fighters that Haye really wants to fight in the Klitschko brothers. I believe he will fight Vitali first, and then if successful Vladimir, who looked excellent in his last fight. Haye also has the benefit of being 29, whilst Vitali is 38 and age can catch up with a fighter quickly.

It will certainly be exciting to follow and support David Haye in his next three fights where should he win; he would have to be considered the best Heavyweight boxer in the world at that point.

I questioned whether 1.72 was too short from bwin.com but evidently they knew got it right. There are plenty of boxing betting odds at bwin.com with the next big fight being the Catchweight (145lbs) contest between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, in what promises to be another classic. “Packman” is currently favourite at 1.45 with Cotto at odds of 2.70. The draw is 23.00. That fight is on November 15^th.

British fans are looking forward to the Amir Khan fight against New York fighter Dmitriy Salita where Khan is strong favourite at odds of 1.12 to win that fight. Salita is not pushover and can be backed at odds of 5.50 with the draw priced at 34.00. That fight is on December 5^th at the Newcastle Arena. I have tickets to that fight for my first live boxing experience so I cannot wait.

Keep your eyes on all the boxing action this autumn and winter at bwin.com.

By Malcolm Clarke