DAVID HAYE reckons he would’ve knocked Oleksandr Usyk’s spark out during his heyday.
Undefeated Ukrainian Usyk rose to the top of the heavyweight heap last September with a masterclass over Anthony Joshua.
The slick southpaw solidified his status as the main man at heavyweight with another masterful display in their Saudi rematch in August.
But Haye sees flaws in the former undisputed cruiserweight champ’s game that he believes he would’ve exploited when he was at the peak of his powers.
He told iD Boxing: “Yeah, I’d like to believe, the night I fought [Enzo] Maccarinelli or [Jean-Marc] Mormeck, the speed and the timing – I always liked southpaws, my right hand landed.
“Watching Tony Bellew fight Usyk, Tony Bellew was controlling the fight whilst he was there.
“If he was younger, if he was fresher, I think he could have done a lot better.
“You know, if I put myself in that same fight with Usyk and take Tony out and put my prime in there, I think I would have definitely got that guy out of there.”
Haye, however, has been impressed by what he’s seen of Usyk since his move to heavyweight three years ago.
He admitted: “The guy now is a different animal now at heavyweight.
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“You know, he’s put on some weight now, he’s had tremendous fights.
“You know, his fight against Derek Chisora, it was a very close one. He scraped a majority victory there.
“When I fought Derek, I knocked him out in five rounds.
“So we’ve had only one sort of similar opponent and Tony Bellew, he knocked Tony Bellew out, Tony Bellew knocked me out twice.
“So I think I would have been confident going into a fight with him.
“It would have been tricky, it would have been hard, but I would have found a way to get to him.
“I wouldn’t have allowed him to do some of the stuff that he does to some of these bigger heavyweights.
“The stuff that he did to Anthony Joshua he wouldn’t have been able to do to me because I’m quicker than he is. So that’s my answer.”
Usyk, 35, was slated to face Tyson Fury in a blockbuster undisputed fight in December following his Saudi showdown with AJ.
But the London 2012 gold medallist, who opted to rest and heal a number of injuries, is looking to unify the division early next year.
