David Haye names fighter who hit harder than Klitschko, Chisora ​​and Bellew: ‘I was shocked’

David Haye is one of only three men to unify world titles in the 200-pound ranks before winning a belt at heavyweight.

The Londoner burst onto the professional scene in 2002 after an amateur career of 83 wins and just 13 losses, winning the English and European Cruiserweight belts before winning the WBC and WBA world titles against Jean Marc Mormeck in 2007.

At heavyweight, he failed to unify, failing against the great Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko.

Participating in Ring Magazine’s Best I Faced feature, Haye looked back over his career to reward his opponents accordingly. He gave heavyweight giant Nikolai Valuev the best chin – even though the Briton would sensationally shake him before winning his first heavyweight world title on the line – and called his bitter rival-turned-friend Derek Chisora ​​the stronger .

Of Tony Bellew – who beat Haye twice in a bitter rivalry – he said:

“Tony Bellew had an excellent boxing IQ and formulated a very good game plan with (trainer) Dave Coldwell. They knew what their strengths and weaknesses were, they knew what mine were, and they had a great game plan and were able to execute it twice.

“The Hayemaker” thinks the best he fought against was Klitschko or Valuev, but says the man who hit him the hardest was one Monte Barrett.

“I remember him hitting me and being shocked at the difference in punching power between him and the cruiserweights. He was a very bossy guy.

Barrett, a heavyweight throughout his career, was a native of North Carolina and was Haye’s second taste of the premier division following his unified run at cruiserweight. The powerful Briton would win by stoppage in the fifth but not before feeling Barrett’s return shot.

Barrett hung up his gloves after a defeat against Cuban Luis Ortiz in 2014 with a record of 35 victories, 20 by knockout and 11 defeats.