David Haye's First Opponent Options (Poll included)

Really, I like all of the fights for Haye except Evander. I know what Rafael’s saying, though, because it would gain the most attention of all these potential matchups. He’s EVANDER HOLYFIELD, no matter what, and some people will care. What I worry about there is that Haye probably eventually hurts Holyfield enough for a referee to stop it, and then people write off Haye as having beaten up an old man that shouldn’t have been there. It’d be hard not to, since Holyfield’s an old man that shouldn’t be there.

I guess the Rahman-Toney II winner makes the most sense. It’s been a long time since Meehan was on anyone’s radar, and McCline is just a big slug. Maskaev doesn’t deserve the payday after that song-and-dance he ran Peter through.

There’s always these guys, too:

Sultan Ibragimov—badly needs to restore his image. Good boxer when he feels like it, which you’d have never known from that Wlad fight. Probably a step above what Golden Boy is thinking.

Lamon Brewster—I doubt Lamon wants to fight again. His eye is a serious concern. But he can punch and is past his best days.

Audley Harrison—what a spectacular KO this would be, and the end of Fraudley. David Haye wouldn’t just have the vast majority of his home country behind him, but the entire world. Doesn’t fit with the Setanta stip that a guy has to be ranked in the top 10 in the WBC, IBF, WBO or WBA, but I’m sure someone could make it happen. Franck Gorjux got ranked No. 10 at 115 once, and Gary Lockett was just a No. 1 mandatory.

John Ruiz—say what you want about Ruiz, but he’ll fight anyone.

Shannon Briggs—where have you gone, Joe Douchemaggio, a nation turns its lonely eye to you? Woo ooh ooh. Briggs is a former titleholder, decent name, and stands really still. Haye might knock his hair off. As much as I dislike Shannon as a fighter, I like him as a commentator. He could stick to that and that’d be great.

I voted for the winner of Rahman/Toney, because Toney is the only one of these fighters I give a shit about. And Rahman would make at least as good of a first opponent as the others.