By Eric Thomas: photo by Pavel “Eagle eye” Terehov – In an interview with the BBC Sport, David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) commented that he had recently gotten into a scuffle with Vitali Klitschko at a restaurant after Vitali saw a photo of Haye in which he was holding the severed head of Wladimir Klitschko. The photo was taken for the UK version of Men’s Health magazine, and apparently Haye thought that Vitali would see it as a joke rather than take it seriously. However, Vitali reportedly got enraged and the two quickly began scuffling with each other until they were broken up moments later.
“He [Vitali] doesn’t have a sense of humor at all. He wasn’t impressed and tried to rough me up a little bit. I was an athlete and it turned into a bit of a scuffle, you know. It’s all about getting the fight in 2009, so we were broken up. But he was pissed. He was cursing at me in Ukrainian. He tried to rough me up, show me how strong he was, and I sort of wrestled with him, grapple with him as well. No punches were exchanged, but it was sort of rough and tumble,” said Haye.
“I got a little feel for him. I got his number. I can feel it from there. He’s watched Rocky 4 too many times and he thinks he’s Ivan Drago. He stands as stiff as a board.”
Haye, 28, was originally planning on facing Vitali’s younger brother, Wladimir, but shortly after Haye’s victory over Monte Barrett on November 15th, Vitali’s name began to be mentioned as his next opponent rather than Wladimir. Considered to be the better of the Klitschko brothers due to his stronger chin, powerful right hand and much more crowd pleasing style of fighting, the fight between Haye and Vitali would seem to be the better fight financially than a fight between Wladimir and Haye. Vitali has a huge following in the sport and his fights draw a lot of attention, whereas many of Wladimir’s seem to attract nearly as many fans.
“I could have fought Wladimir Klitschko,” Haye said. “He’s only 6’6”, but if I knocked him out, people would say he’s been knocked out before. Brewster knocked him out, Corrie Sanders knocked him out. He [Lennox Lewis] is going to come in as an adviser. He knows Vitali better than anyone else. He knows the way to beat him.
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