LOTIERZO'S LOWDOWN You Should Look Forward to Haye-Chisora

Wow, can't believe how many people have a problem with heavyweights David Haye 25-2 (23) and Dereck Chisora 15-3 (9) fighting this weekend. It seems like a natural since both lost to a Klitschko by decision in their last fight, with the difference being Chisora lost nobly in trying to take Vitali Klitschko's title away en-route to losing a decision, whereas Haye stunk the place out en-route to losing a lopsided decision to Wladimir Klitschko and never even sniffed the title.

Then after going through the motions against Wladimir, Haye blamed his poor showing on an injured pinkie-toe. If that weren't enough, Haye and Chisora badgered each other at the post fight press conference immediately following Chisora's loss to Vitali. Soon Haye and Chisora got into a brawl and Haye ended up hitting Chisora with a glass. Nobody said fighters were always the greatest citizens, although most of them are. As a result there were fines, hearings and suspensions. Which amounted to nothing more than a ruse being that less than a year later they're facing each other in a sanctioned professional fight.

I love this fight!

During the Haye-Chisora press conference dust up this past February, I was hoping that these two would end up facing each other next. Although, in all honesty, I wasn't sure if Haye wanted any part of Chisora after Dereck's showing against the more gritty and durable Klitschko. Granted, Chisora didn't come close to beating Vitali, but he pressed him almost from bell-to-bell. The only other fighter to do that was former champ Lennox Lewis nine years ago. Had Chisora had a little more experience and refinement, along with a little more pop in his punch, that fight would've been up for grabs. But he didn't and it wasn't.

The point is – Chisora showed that he may not be great or a fighter that you'll remember when he's gone, but he's not afraid to push the fight against a big strong versatile and accomplished fighter the likes of Vitali Klitschko. In addition to that he showed he can really catch and has an upper tier chin. After going the distance with Vitali, it's hard to conceive that Chisora is losing any sleep over David Haye. Which may just be a problem because Chisora is capable of sleep-walking his way through a fight and when he does that he can lose to fighters he should beat easily. Dereck is hard to light a fire under, but it seems that he's angry enough at Haye to the point that may not be an issue this time.

If you're David Haye, you're thinking to yourself, Chisora takes a good shot, but he can be out-boxed. Along with that, he isn't a big puncher. Sure, he's aggressive, but I'm faster, I can punch and am the predominately better skilled fighter/boxer. As long as I don't trip over a left hook and avoid getting caught with a lottery punch, there's no way this guy can stay with me, let alone beat me.

The style clash here is very interesting.

Forget about the x's and o's in this one. It's doubtful there'll be time for that. This one will come down to not who's better so much, but who's tougher and refuses more to be denied. The lesser puncher is going to have to force the fight while the bigger puncher who has the less dependable chin will look to avoid a war and pick his spots. Because of his chin, Chisora can take chances and look to land his Sunday best on Haye who still harbors some doubt about his beard. On the other hand, Haye can't get too seduced with his power because that'll give Chisora more openings to get one in. And Lord help Haye if he lands his bread and butter right hand and Chisora looks at him as if to say, “now what?”

When you add the bad blood between them into the mix, it makes for what could be one of the more entertaining heavyweight clashes in recent memory. This is something the boxing public is starving for. Sure, the winner sets himself up for a big money/high profile bout with one of the Klitschkos. But that's not the intrigue because any sophisticated boxing fan already knows that Chisora would have no shot against Wladimir Klitschko and Haye would fight like a church mouse against Vitali Klitschko.

No, this fight is about one night/afternoon of excitement. Neither Haye or Chisora are gonna be big players in the division in two years, so what. But they can provide some excitement and fireworks for 36 minutes if we're lucky.

This is a fun fight. Haye can't afford another night of running for cover, and Chisora has personal reasons for pushing the fight. I'm expecting a lot of intensity. It'll be better if Chisora wins, because it'll be hard to sell Haye against either Klitschko in light of what's happened in the past.  With Chisora, they can talk about how green he was the first time around. It's BS, but it's sellable BS.

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