Patience vital for Haye to stop Chisora in heavyweight grudge

Punters fancying David Haye to stop Dereck Chisora in their heavyweight grudge match may find the best betting value in the 4/1 that he secures his knockout success in the second half of the fight between rounds 7-12.

Haye certainly comes into the fight as the puncher, claiming 23 of his 25 professional wins by stoppage and given that there is no love lost with Chisora, the early rounds here could be a bit of a tear up.

However, one of Chisora’s greatest attributes seems to be the solidness of his chin and so Haye may have to pace his attacks carefully.

There is the belief in the eyes of some that Haye can be found short of stamina in the latter rounds, despite claims from trainer Adam Booth that he is in “frightening shape”, having done twice the amount of sparring than previously for any other fight.

And he may need to be given that Chisora is liable to be tough to knock out.

Vitali Klitschko and Tyson Fury have both had to settle for points victories over Chisora and he took some hefty shots from both fighters.

Even Haye’s best shots may fail to make an immediate dent in Chisora’s willingness to keep coming forward, as he will know with his reach disadvantage that the only way of landing punches will be through shortening the ring distance between the two fighters.

Therefore, he will have to ensure that he does not punch himself out in the early rounds in trying to stop Chisora.

Haye has the better footwork and hand speed and so his best strategy will be to try to keep the tempo high in the opening rounds, while remaining selective with his assaults and keeping Chisora frustrated at arm’s length.

If he can continually trouble Chisora with decent punches in all of the early rounds, this must eventually take its toll and then Haye may be able to move in with a more aggressive mentality in the latter portion of the fight.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.