Carl Froch has answered a fan question that pits Anthony Joshua against David Haye, prime for prime.
Haye became unified cruiserweight champion back in 2008 following victories over Jean Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinelli. He moved up to heavyweight the very same year, defeating giant Nikolai Valuev over the distance in his second fight to win the WBA world title.
Eight years later, Olympic Gold Medalist ‘AJ’ won his first world title against Charles Martin. He would add two more heavyweight belts to his collection before losing them conclusively to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021.
With around four inches in height on Haye and 30lbs in bulk, the smaller man would enter the ring the underdog in this particular battle of Britain.
Speaking on Froch on Fighting, ‘The Cobra’ looked back to a shared opponent in Wladimir Klitschko to predict a fantasy fight between the pair.
“I think AJ’s too big for him but a prime David Haye is very good. Explosive power, fast, brave as you like. He may have got to Anthony Joshua and started catching him. But AJ’s a big lump, and if you look at what AJ did to Klitschko – all right Klitschko was 42-years-old and had been sat on the sofa for eighteen months and came out of retirement virtually – he still flattened him. He climbed off the canvas at Wembley Stadium in front of 79,000 people and got the win.
When you look at that fight and then look at David Haye versus Klitschko, Klitschko was just too big for him. He smothered him and leaned on him. As much as I think David Haye could iron out AJ, I just think AJ beats the Hayemaker cause he’s too big for him … That would be a good fight.”
Haye came up short against Klitschko in 2011. The Ukrainian great would lose to Tyson Fury in 2015 and then Joshua in 2017, the latter by stoppage.
As Haye comfortably enjoys retirement, Joshua is mounting a challenge to win his belts back.