I knew Daniel Dubois would be world champ when he was just 13 – here's why he can beat Oleksandr Usyk
Haye was a champ at cruiserweight and heavyweight when he visited the famous Repton Boxing Club in Bethnal Green in 2010.
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And will never forget that day - because it happened to be when the late trainer Tony Burns introduced him to a teenage Dubois.
Haye - who posed for a group picture with Dubois - made sure to keep an eye on the British boxing prodigy.
And now 15 years later, he told SunSport courtesy of Highbet: "I hadn't seen him fight at the time.
"But I think it was Tony Burns - and when these guys have been in the game for a long time - when they say, 'Listen, this kid's gonna be good.' They very rarely say that.
"It was one of the only times someone's actually said that to me, 'This kid's gonna be a heavyweight champion of the world.'
"I was like, OK, so I made sure I kept the picture because one day I knew he was gonna do something and when he did, I posted that picture that no one had seen for many years.
"And, it was really nice to see - it made me feel a little old, to be honest! And soon there was a little kid then becoming heavyweight champion, but his progression has been great."
Haye watched as Dubois came back from defeats to Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk to turn his career around.
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Usyk vs Dubois 2 - All the info
OLEKSANDR USYK and Daniel Dubois meet again in a blockbuster heavyweight unification fight at Wembley Stadium THIS SATURDAY!
Usyk won the first fight in August 2023 via a ninth round KO - but only after Dubois knocked him to the canvas with a body blow that was ruled a low blow.
Dubois, 27, has improved massively since that first meeting, reeling off stunning wins over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua.
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And after come-from-behind victories against Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic - an iconic knockout victory over Anthony Joshua in September followed.
And now the IBF king - proving Burns right - Dubois rematches Usyk on Saturday at Wembley for the undisputed title.
Already Usyk has two points wins over Joshua and Tyson Fury - along with his ninth-round stoppage over Dubois in Poland two years ago.
But Haye says it is actually Derek Chisora's gruelling decision loss that proves the greatest blueprint to figuring out the Usyk puzzle.
He said: "No matter what your skillset is, you have to be able to work for every second of every round to win the majority of the rounds and up to this point, AJ or Fury wasn't able to go up in gears and really continue to push him.
"He kind of said pulled away in those fights. So if Tyson Fury and AJ had worked as hard as Derek worked, for instance, in terms of engine letting his hands go, not having to sort of conserve energy and bounce around the ring and get into that boxing zone which Usyk is a master of, I think he's right.
"I think they would have won another two or three rounds maybe which might have been enough to win the fight.
"But if you look at Derek Chisora's fight with Usyk - and I think I've heard Usyk on a couple of occasions say that was my hardest fight -and it wasn't because Derek tried to match him for skills.
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"Derek matched him for pace and he made Usyk fight his fight which is a close, rough and tough push and pull, exhausting fight.
"And Usyk never had that really not at that pace. I think Usyk only won the fight by two rounds so I was there ringside. At the time, a lot of people thought Derek won the fight.
"As time goes by, people say it was an easy win, it wasn't. Go back and watch that fight and at the end of the fight he wasn't sure whether he won or lost the fight and it's down to Derek's strategy that he had going into the fight.
"Not playing Usyk's game, the game that Daniel Dubois played to a T for Usyk the first time they fought.
"When they first fought Usyk did exactly what he always does when his opponents show him too much respect and they try and sort of ease their way into the fight.
"Usyk is so technically gifted that Dubois didn't show Usyk anything he hasn't seen before and it made it - pretty much outside of the sort of semi-low blow whatever you however you see it - it was in full control from Usyk."
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Haye also points to Usyk's age and years boxing - from his Olympic gold in the amateurs to his 23 professional fights.
And with Dubois coming off a career-best win, with 80,000 loyal fans behind him, the stage could be set for a historic British boxing upset.
Haye, 44, said: "He's in the perfect position at the perfect time with the perfect boxing environment.
"Everything's there for him - the universe is aligned in a way which gives him the best possible chance to become an all-time, undisputed champion.
"Few people have won all the belts at heavyweight and you know he hasn't done it the easy way, he's taken tough fights, he's lost and he's come back and learned.
"If you look at the difference between after Joe Joyce beat Dubois on that night, people really thought that was the end of Daniel Dubois and they thought Joyce was the future.
"Fast forward three or four years or whatever it's been, and look where we are now, you've got one young, you had a young guy there, Dubois, taking that early loss but he's built on the back of it and that's why I'm thinking he's got a massive, massive chance.
"He's got to be willing to take some stick, take a left hand down the pipe from time to time but he's got to get close, watch the Derek Chisora fight on what to do when you get in close.
"Rough and tough, push him, if you've got to lose a couple of points because you're hitting him in the back of the head or the kidneys, whatever it is it's life and death and you've got to find a way to win."
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