Haye laughs off Harrison fight

Haye laughs off Harrison fight

DAVID Haye is loving his chance to live the schoolboy dream – but not, he says, for very much longer.

The WBA world heavyweight champion, a title that shot him from being a man unheralded beyond the confines of the sport of boxing to being one of the most instantly recognisable faces in Britain, was in Derby last night to meet the fans at a sportsmen's dinner at the Heritage Hotel.

It is fair to assume he is not completely uncomfortable with the attention an event like this brings.

Having worked so hard for so long to reach the peak, he deserves his chance to take deep breaths of the rarefied air of fame.

But Haye, who won the title against the Russian giant Nikolay Valuev in Nuremberg last November, said even he underestimated how much it would change his life.

"I knew it would be a bit different being heavyweight champion compared to when I was cruiserweight champion," he said.

"I thought it might double but it's probably increased 10 or 15-fold.

"Kids and old ladies know who you are. That's strange because I always thought boxing was a minority sport and only males who were big into boxing would know who the champion was.

"Even people in boxing didn't know my first world title fight at cruiserweight was on TV.

"I won the title, the biggest fight of my life, and nobody really knew about it.

"When you are heavyweight champion, you go on Jonathan Ross and Paul Grady and all these prime time TV shows and that gets you seen by everybody. That's nice.

"I've always dreamed of being world heavyweight champion and always believed one day I would and it's a reality now.

"When I was four or five, maybe younger than that, I used to watch the boxing with my mum and my dad and my uncle because they were big boxing fans. I knew then what the heavyweight title brought.

"When I was a kid at school, there was Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno and, watching these guys, I wanted to be the biggest, strongest guy out there.

"Every kid wants to be the hardest in the playground but the heavyweight champion was like the hardest in the world. There was nothing you could compare to that.

"I wanted to prove to everybody that I was the best and to be heavyweight champion, that was the way to prove it."

Now aged 29, Haye says he intends to stick to a promise he made to himself many years ago that he would not box beyond the age of 30 and that means he has his eyes on blockbuster fights only from here on.

That does not, he says, include an all-British showdown with former Olympic champion Audley Harrison, despite many reports to the contrary.

"I haven't talked to Audley's team, to be honest. I've read it in numerous newspapers but I don't take any notice of that.

"I looked on one of the boxing websites the other day and they even had a date for the fight. That made me laugh.

"At the moment, we're talking to the Klitschkos, trying to make that deal. Audley's just trying to get some headlines.

"If, by some miracle, I ended up in the same ring as him, I think everybody with half a brain cell would know what the result would be. I would go out there and mince him."

The target is either Vitali Klitschko, the WBC champion, or his brother Wladimir, the IBF and WBO champion, but Haye says he knows he will have to face both in time to get the full recognition he seeks.

"That's the plan," he added.

"The way I see it, I've got to beat both of them at some stage. They have different strengths and different assets, so I'd have to treat each fight differently but both are fighters I feel I could beat.

"Even if I was to beat both of them, there would be someone else. There always is.

"Then you'd have to beat him and there'd be another one coming through, no matter what you do.

"I've always said I would retire at the end of next year. I started boxing when I was 10 and said then I would retire from boxing when I was 30 and that's still the time restraint I've set myself.

"I know it's all been said before. I heard Oscar de la Hoya say a very similar thing and I heard that Bernard Hopkins swore to his mother on her death bed that he wouldn't box past the age of 40 and here he is, at 47 or so, and he's calling me out!

"So far, I've achieved all the goals I said I would and now I just need some big fights to stamp my place in boxing history in the next year and a bit.

"I've got to be very strategic about the next two or three fights I have."

It's refreshing to see him come out and reiterate his interest in fighting the Klitschko's and to laugh off the possibility of a Harrison fight. To be honest, I'm still not sure how I feel about Haye, he's brought a ton of excitement back to the heavyweight division and even people who can't stand him seem to constantly be talking about him, but at the same time it remains to be seen how serious he is about fulfilling the promises he made when he moved up in weight. One thing is for sure, he's great for boxing if for no other reason than the attention he brings back to the sports premier division.

I hope he is true to his word and fights the Klit brothers but doubt he will retire on top, very few boxers do.

He's going to be 30 years old and fighting Ruslan Chagaev or something.

Haye seems to have a very smart business acumen. He's just going to bring up the klits name a couple times a year, claim he still plans on fighting them, thus keeping interest alive but never follow thru on it. Well I shouldn't say never he might decide to get in with vitali in 2 years by which time the laters body will be falling apart again...its basically all "blah blah blah" till contracts are signed, oh never mind we're talking about haye, so rather till I see them in the ring...

Laughs it off but then says if we do end up in the ring we all no the outcome will be?? This fight will happen.

Then why did he reject the 50/50 offer from Wlad, and then intentionally, allow the negotiation period to expire, so that Wlad was forced to schedule a fight with Povetkin.

Harrison was always a joke of a fight, there was no way David Haye was going to make that bout. Yes it would make him some money, but he wouldn't get out of second gear before sparking Audley.

There's only one place to go for Haye, and it's got to be one or the other brother.

This amuses me so much.

I don't believe anything until it is officially announced and press conferenced etc.

The bottom line. Certain know it alls need to shut the fuck up.

Looks like Haye just pretty much confirmed the fight.

Funny how he has waited a month or two to deny he is fighting Audley Harrison - after seeing all the negativity it attracted.

"I read on websites there was a date set" - no, you went on boxing forums, read that people were slating you, rubbishing you and calling you a coward regarding the Klits so you've had a change of heart.

The bellend.

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Originally Posted by Master

I hope he is true to his word and fights the Klit brothers but doubt he will retire on top, very few boxers do.

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....pick one or the other, he can't have both

I figure the last time he fought was April so he won't even think of signing another fight until September or October for a fight that will happen in January or February

Don't worry david......we were laughing just as hard. I agree with what was written somewhere above. If haye or his people said the sky was blue, i'd look up. What he's done is smart really. He built up enough of a name for himself to make some extra dough at least more than he would have gotten running the cruiser division never really beliveing he'd fight either klitch. He knew he'd never beat them so he did the next best thing which was to convince us he could. People are so desperate for a decent HW fight it was pretty easy for him to do. I'll tell you when he'll really be ready.......when either of them says they're retired and hanging them up. Then we'll hear how haye wouldn've done this and that blah blah blah...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Violent Demise

Looks like Haye just pretty much confirmed the fight.

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Oh yes it does doesn't it!! The same way that Pac rejecting Floyd's 60/40 proposal must mean that fight is too be annouced very shortly with a 60/40 split in floyds favour.

Oh this genius interpretation of the interview is the best example of saddoboxing poster logic ever!

This should be framed and put on the front page of the site!!

Sir my hat is off to you.

OK so the guy says he wants to fight Wladimir Klitschko instead of Audley Harrison. How convenient is it that Chicken Little waited until the Wlad-Povetkin fight was signed to complain about the bad rep he was getting. Who will this dude fight if not Audley Harrison?