Haye: “I’m on a mission to unify the titles”
February 7th, 2010
By William Mackay: World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) says in an article at the Mirror that he’s out to “unify the titles.” For that to happen, Haye, 29, will have to get through both the Klitschko brothers who hold the IBF, WBC and WBO heavyweight titles. Haye says “I want two more hard years in the boxing business to bring all the belts together and give the fight fans a champion they can recognize.” Haye is going to have to really pray that he can accomplish all that in just two short years, because he’s got a long ways to go if he wants to fight both brothers.
Haye says “I could take the easy route like the Klitschko brothers and fight fat no-hopers and make easy defence after easy defence. I want to get in with the other champions, in real fights, for real money and hopefully restore pride to the division.” Haye will be facing two time heavyweight champion John Ruiz on April 3rd at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, Lancashire. This will be a mandatory defense for Haye, so he has little choice but to fight Ruiz or else risk having his title stripped from him. However, the real test to see if Haye can back up his talk is to see whom he fights after the Ruiz bout, provided that Haye actually wins the fight. The way that Haye fought against Valuev, averaging 10 punches thrown per rounds, it’s not a foregone conclusion that Haye will beat Ruiz.
But if Haye does get by Ruiz, he needs to go after one of the Klitschko brothers next to ensure that he has a good chance of getting fights against both of them. Vitali, 38, likely won’t be fighting too much longer because of his advanced age and the possibilities of injuries that could cut strike at any time for him. Haye needs to go after him next.
There has been talk of Haye possibly fighting 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins. If Haye fights Hopkins, a light heavyweight, that won’t exactly go along with Haye’s tough talk of wanting to restore pride in the heavyweight division. Haye has only fought three times at heavyweight, beating Tomasz Bonin, Monte Barrett and Valuev. Based on the level of competition that Haye has faced thus far at heavyweight, he not only took the easy route to the heavyweight title, but he also took a fight against the weakest of champions.
Speaking about the Klitschko brothers, Haye says “They’re an angry pair of brothers with some issues outside the ring. They’ve both tried grabbing me on the safe side of the ropes, but offered me peanuts to fight them inside the ring. That makes no sense to me! They have the other belts and if they have any pride left they will have to fight me – it’s as simple as that.”
Haye feels that he will be able to get a much better deal in negotiating a contract with the Klitschko brothers now that he has the WBA title under his belt. However, Haye could end up fouling negotiations if he wants too much of a cut of the percentage of the profits.
Tags: 25 Responses to “Haye: “I’m on a mission to unify the titles””
Leave a Reply
please use above banner to link back to us!
kallie found out where you’re coming from….haye has fought 2 over 35 heavyweights, way past their prime, is, according to golden boy, planning to fight bernard next, then valuev again, yes he has big plans, in between faking a back injury and hand injury…no treatment, no surgery, no cast on his hand…hmmm then he didn’t have a broken hand and never gave documentation on the back…what the word for that…hmmm. oh yes…coward
cobb was the worst heavyweight contender i ever saw, no footwork, no punch, no stamina, slow as molasses but he could take a beating…if you had a loss against him you should not be considered even good much less great…and norton was plodding, slow, clumsy, weak chinned and had an average punch and probably beat ali 3 times…look at the tapes on that
Damn, I forgot about Tex Cobb! Yes, Tex Cobb would KO both brothers too
Fred,
But you agree with me on George Chuvalo?
Vince Vegas
You are joking right? Earnie Shavers was about 6ft 1. Shavers had been KO’d by Randall Tex Cobb – a journeyman with limited skills.
Vitali and Wladimir would have kept Shavers on the end of their hard jabs and then they would unload their big straight right on Shavers and he would have been KO’d. Ron Lyle – ha ha. No way in hell would he have beaten either of the K’s.
People can keep on knocking the K’s. It’s fine. However, other people will also defend and support the Klitschko’s. They are just too big, skilled and fine tuned and they will keep on winning. Vitali is getting on. He can still win a few more fights before retiring.
I usually don’t jump in the ‘who could beat whom’ from different era’s but Lex, you’ve inspired me……
While the K-Bros are REALLY BIG & have dominated the current era, who is the best they’ve fought? Samuel Peter, Ross Purity, Chris Byrd, Cory Sanders? It’s hard to pick because no one they’ve fought is really very good (With the exception of Byrd who is great technically but waaaayyy to small. He weighs like 132 pounds or something) Chris Aerreola? The guy admits he doesn’t do road work. He doesn’t run? WTF?!
None of the K-Bros opponenets would have rated in even the top 20 during the Golden Era, 60′s & 70′s, of the Heavyweight Division.
Ernie Shavers would not only have reached them, he would have beat them to pieces.
Ron Lyle could easily KO either brother, he was a monster and he’s rarely even mentioned along with the greats of the era.
Larry Holmes? Larry could move, he would have easily reached them with his superior movememnt & jack hammer jabs.
George Chuvalo was only considered a ‘gate keeper’ in the division but you couldn’t deter the guy by hitting him with a car let alone a punch. He was just too tough. He would have kept coming till he wore them down. Rememeber, we’re talking 15 rounds here Big Boys, and those two big boys do seem to tire out.
Fraizer, one Philadelphia left hook…….. Bye bye.
You mention Tyson as one guy who would have a shot at them. A prime Tyson may have based on the amout of agression he brought to the ring, something the brothers never do. But he wouldn’t have won on his defence. His defence wasn’t that great, his head movement was not difficult to time, taller guys dropped right hands on his face all night & the top fighters of the 60′s & 70′s would have given a prime Tyson plenty of problems as well.
Oh…… I forgot Ali. Ali’s skills & speed would have easily overcome the K-Bro’s size. A prime Ali would out box them so easily it would look like they were in two different sports.
David “Haymaker” Haye is the best heavyweight around and will unify the belts… He will bring dignity back to the heavyweight division. He will rid the division of all fat, lazy, sorry slobs taking up space in the division!!!!!
Lex Futuretive? Are you on the run from the law or what son? As for comparing the likes of Ali and Frasier I don’t know what planet you are on dude. Frasier didn’t do to well on getting on the inside of Foreman did he. Foreman was tall for his time and had a lon reach and Frasier ended up getting smashed to bits. Ali had better movement than the lot of them and would’ve danced rings around any heavy weight around today. I appreciate it is hard to compare past and present boxers, but you are way of the mark there.
As for comparing Haye with B-hop you are simply wrong. B-hop wouldn’t carry the extra weight well at all in my opinion and Haye would finish him very early doors.
People are complaining that Haye did not deserve a shot at Valuev because he had not enough fights at heavyweight yet you all complain that he didn’t jump straight in with the Klitchkos. I think he was over eager and someone had a word in his ear – David, you need to have a few more fights at heavyweight before you go for the big boys.
They where wise words and I think he made the right choices. He will fight one of them this year and he will beat them. I believe he will blow Ruiz away like no-one has before, this will give him confidence and it will also put some doubts into the heads of the brothers.
Haye fought the right fight against Valuev and used his head. No-one can knock him for the way he handled the giant and if he had not hurt his hand it would have been much more impressive.
to MarathonMan Haye is fighting John Ruiz on April 1st you muppett. His first mandatory defense.
Haye is a loud mouth and threfore can expect some stick from boxing writers and fans alike, but to say he has taken the easy route to a heavy weight title is utter rubbish. In as much as that he only fought at heavy weight three times and now holds a version of it. He is now facing a mandatory challenger and from then on fight the next challenger. I would advise him not to fight the klitchko’s yet, but to fight a couple more times first against the likes of Areola or someone of similar ilk.
I too was disappointed at the way he fought Valuev and can only take his word for why. Next time out I hope to see him back to normal i.e throwing big punches early on. There can be no doubt that haye has extreme power as was seen when he rocked Valuev, who, by the way has never been knocked out or rocked before. It is true that he has a suspect chin and it’s only more of a worry at heavy weight. That said somebody has to hit him well before that can be tested again. I can see Haye beating all the top big boys out there. That said you just don’t know and that’s partly why he’s so exciting to watch. But don’t say he took the easy root when he’s only fought three times at heavy weight and is already champ you absolute ignoramous!!
Haye will not clean up the heavyweight division. For a start, if he wanted to clean up, he would be fighting more often rather than trash talking.
There are quite a few prospects in the h/w division now. Nagy Aguilar is one of them. Why doesnt Haye fight boxers like that? Haye also has a nerve calling the Klitschko opponents bums. How about the fighters that Haye has fought? What are they? Big punching Oliver Mccall couldnt put Gomez down. Vitali knocked Gomez flying across the ring.
If Valuev is slow, limited and an easier option how come he has never hit the canvass? How come his record is so impressive? You simply cannot trade with a man that big. Perhpas Vitali will but it’s a high risk fight for him and I wouldn’t be suprised if he loses to Valuev.
Haye is in witness protection. How can I defend a so called champion that won’t even defend his belt? With all the pretenders out there he should be working. Keeping his name out there. What’s he doing? Sitting on that belt? It probably stinks. Arreola would give Haye all that he can handle. Haye is no Holyfield. Holyfield fought everyone, plus he was smaller. HAYE needs to get it together…
I wish people would stop saying he ducked the Klitchkos 1st time round. Nobody here would accept a job under the equivelant circumstances that Haye was offered with Vitali and the Vladimir fight left Haye with a tiny portion of any earnings and then Setanta went bust, no wonder he walked away from that one.
Doubting Haye can beat a Klitchko is one thing and fair enough but he fully believes he can beat them and is certainly not scared to face them.
Infact if you read enough about how the Klitchkos negiotiated contracts with Haye then it makes me wonder if they are actually scared of him.
Yeah hes on a mission big time.
Why did Haye duck both K bros last summer?
Well gents let’s be honest the K brothers have beaten up on fat bums. The only one I rate is Arreloa because of his power and chin. Haye is a different animal. Fast, fit and with power. If he connects early with a Hayemaker he can win if not he will get knocked out. It will be exciting to watch. However Ruiz is formidable and Haye needs to be at his best to beat him before he even considers the Ks.
Haye is clearly delusional with the fallacy Haye characterises as his mission being more correctly depicted as Mission Impossible. Haye`s attempt to make daydreams his reality can perhaps be attributed to having taken too many head shots or possible more simply low IQ or the combination of the two.
David Haye will tell you he is the greatest yet his life’s work in the ring at heavyweight reveals a less than epic and or dazzling tale.
Since moving up to the heavyweight division Haye has clearly chosen the way of least resistance and even with that his report card is viewed by most as spotty at best. Haye and his “mission” are in low gear and not a few the follow boxing are chagrined by Haye`s rowdy talk with little substance. This smoke and mirrors act is going to implode and it will not be pretty, most of all not amusing for Mr. Haye and his lost boy following.
Haye is a hypocrite. Klitchko’s took the easy route? Who has Haye fought? Real fans know Valuev is huge but so slow and extremely limited and dont give Haye much credit for running from the worst world champion in years. Vitali would get in the ring with anyone, not his fault the division is faultering in recent years, but i believe he’d be a force in any era, he was giving Lewis a beating up until the cut stopped him. Haye has to shut his mouth and get fighting the better fighters in the division if we’re to believe his own bullsh*t…The Klitschkos, Arreola, Solis, Povetkin, Adamek, plenty on offer for Haye to prove himself
haye is the man 2 beat but i dont see anybody out there that could do it!!!
Sounds like Manny Pacquiao, refusing to fight the best then saying he wants to fight them next. Manny balked at fighting Mosley and walked away from talks with Floyd to flight Clottey. Haye had a mysterious injury against Wladimir and walked away from talks with Vitali to fight Valuev. Mannny said he wants to fight Mayweather and Mosley since refusing to fight both of them and signing Clottey. Haye said he wants to fight both Klitshckos since refusing to fight them and signing to fight Ruiz. I don’t think Haye would win more than one round against B-hop. Hopkins could move up after beating Jones and win a heavyweight title.
As for this being a weak heavyweight division. I have no idea if it is or not. I think the Klitshcko’s and Lennox Lewis would have dominated at any point in history. Before Lewis there had never been anyone 6 1/2 feet tall that could box and use their height and reach to their advantage. How could a Marciano, Dempsey, Johnson, or Holmes get inside against them?? How would Ali get close enough to land a punch?? Frazier and a young Tyson with his original trainer are the only two I could see having a chance of getting inside, with their uncanny head movement.
haye needds to shut up and start fighting then. he must mean after the klitchkos retire.
To Mccarry85;
That’s funny.
Considering his size Valuev should be knocking out horses, not people.
Haye was very confident that night. He knew what he had to do & he did it, which is easier said than done. Of course you can argue that’s what fighters are supposed to do but you have to give Haye extra credit; Valuev is a foot taller, 100 pounds heavier & looks like he’s from another planet, and not a pretty one.
Haye did not looked at all intimidated & I expect the same attitude when he walks into the ring with his next opponent, hopefully one of the K-Bros. He may not win but I believe he’ll come in willing to prove his point or get KO’ed trying.
No disrespect to the K-Bros, they’re gentleman & exceptional atheletes but they’ve reigned over a division in it’s worst state in it’s entire history.
Of course, it’s not their fault they haven’t had anyone to really test them & create exciting bouts.
Haye probably won’t be the guy to beat both the K-Bros but I hope he finally gets in the ring with them.
However, even if Haye does unify the titles it doesn’t change the landscape.
Fortunately, if you’re a real fan of boxing you enjoy watching all the weights & you can enjoy many fantastic fighters & great, competitive events all year in the lower weight divisions.
“Haye treated Valuev as if he was a knockout artist instead of a light puncher”
Yep, there’s a statment I can agree with. Valuev is without a doubt the lightest punching 23 stone man I have ever seen, Haye was a complete joke in that fight refusing to stand and trade with his 320lb opponent.
You F***ing moron.