It has been 347 days since David Haye stepped into a ring, but on Saturday night, as the cliché goes, the talking stops. And Haye has done enough talking for a dozen bouts.

Haye’s seemingly unbreakable self-belief will finally be put to the test at the Arena Nürnberger Versicherung when he challenges Nikolay Valuev, the 7ft Russian, for the WBA heavyweight title. Win, and Haye will join a short list of British world heavyweight champions, lose and he will join a much longer parade of British failures.

There is so much about Haye to admire. While others seem content to take sensible steps, Haye has always aimed at the stars. He also appears completely fearless of defeat. Had his career taken a more conventional route, we could this week be discussing a fourth or fifth defence of his world cruiserweight title. But Haye has generally preferred to walk on hot coals than a plush carpet.

So Haye gave up his WBC, WBA and WBO titles and their tidy earning potential to aim for the biggest prize, at heavyweight. And defying all recognised wisdom, he believes that less than 16 minutes of action in the heavyweight division is sufficient to box for the title.

Logic says Haye cannot win; at 6ft 3in he is too small, too inexperienced at heavyweight and his one career loss, to Carl Thompson in 2004, leaves lingering doubts about his stamina and punch resistance.

At Friday’s weigh-in Valuev scaled 22st 8lb, 7st more than the Londoner; no boxer has overcome such a deficit to win a title in the sport’s history. But Haye has seldom let logic bother his plans.

“That’s what makes boxing great,” Haye said. “Who would have thought Muhammad Ali would have beaten George Foreman? Foreman was supposed to be too strong, he had knocked out [Joe] Frazier. He was supposed to be going to slaughter Ali.

“[Nigel] Benn and [Gerald] McClellan. Everyone wrote Benn off. But I don’t look at the stats because it comes down to two people fighting.

“Look at Mike Tyson, he wasn’t very big at 5ft 11in. When he turned pro, who would have thought he would become one of the greatest heavyweights ever. He weighed 215lb and people probably thought he was a bit small.”

But size matters in this case. Haye has been dreaming of becoming world heavyweight champion since he was in primary school. Then his vision of what a world heavyweight champion was would have been a Tyson or a Larry Holmes. Now, though, we are in the age of the super-sized heavyweight.

“When I lost to Carl Thompson, that set me back about a year. I made up time with the [Jean-Marc] Mormeck and [Enzo] Maccarinelli fights back to back and then this,” he said. “I’ve been surprised how quickly this has happened.

“The fact I was so successful in such a short period of time meant there was nothing left for me to do at cruiserweight. The natural thing for me to do was move up in weight and fight the big boys.”

Valuev was not Haye’s first choice. He started a diatribe against the Klitschko brothers — Vitali and Wladimir, who hold the WBC, WBO, IBF and IBO titles between them — as soon as he stepped out of the ring having stopped Monte Barrett in spectacular style at the O2 arena, southeast London, last November.

A photoshopped magazine shoot showing Haye holding the decapitated head of Wladimir enraged Vitali enough to grab Haye by the throat in a restaurant after Wladimir’s win over Hasim Rahman last December.

It was Wladimir who stepped into the line of fire, facing endless abuse from the Londoner in the build-up to a proposed June meeting in front of 60,000 fans in Gelsenkirchen, only for Haye to infuriate the brothers further by pulling out late on with a back injury.

After Wladimir beat Ruslan Chagaev — the only man to defeat Valuev — in Haye’s place, a bout was planned between Vitali and Haye in Frankfurt in September, only for Haye to back out of negotiations and sign to face Valuev instead.

Valuev has had to soak up the insults, too, mostly about his appearance. But while the Klitschkos were enraged by Haye’s taunts, Valuev has remained silent.

“I’ve no regrets about what I’ve said about him,” Haye said. “He may be a nice guy, but this is business and he’s in my way. Stuff like friendship goes out the window. I want to become world heavyweight champion.

“He’s probably been teased all his life about being ugly so I’m sure he’s heard it all before. But that doesn’t stop me trying to open up old wounds.

“I don’t think he can be that out-psyched, to be honest. I think he thinks I’m just an annoying little man who makes too much noise and who needs to be punished. His lack of response is his response.”

Now the big day has come, Haye finally gets to put his words into action. But it is difficult to make a great case for a Haye win. His only chance would seem to be to exploit his speed advantage by boxing a cagey bout, something that seems alien to his nature.

Talk of spectacular knockouts could be a bluff, but while Valuev does not punch with great power for his weight, he will punch harder than anyone Haye has previously faced. And Haye was knocked down three times as a cruiserweight.

Any tip for Haye seems more based on hope than genuine expectation. Haye could have good moments early on, but I expect Valuev to wear down the Londoner from the middle rounds and retain his title on points or by a late stoppage.