By Chris Williams: During a media conference call on Tuesday, World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KO’s) had some nice and some not so nice things to say about British heavyweight David Haye. “Against Valuev, he [Haye] has a chance to be a world champion. Against me, He [Haye] Has a Chance to Get Knocked Out.”

Klitschko is referring to Haye’s choice of choosing WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev to fight next instead of Vitali. Haye and Vitali Klitschko were in negotiations for a fight, but Haye bailed on the fight without warning before the contract was signed for the fight. Haye chose instead to fight the arguably easier opponent in the 35-year-old Valuev on November 7th for the seven foot Russian’s World Boxing Association heavyweight title.

Haye was also set to fight Vitali’s brother IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, but Haye backed out on that fight as well, coming up with a back injury just weeks before the June 20th fight was to take place. The cancellation by Haye in the fight with Wladimir was something that boxing fans were able to overlook, because it was after all an injury. However, after Haye backed out on the Vitali fight, it has left the impression with many boxing fans that Haye lacks courage and is afraid to get knocked out.

This image still largely persists with many boxing fans, which is perhaps why Haye is rarely mentioned nowadays on the net and when he is brought up, it’s unusually in negative terms. Haye may have only been looking out for himself in going after a fight with Valuev instead of Klitschko, but Haye should have been aware of how this would look to the boxing public, given that it was coming off an earlier backing out of a fight with the younger Klitschko brother, Wladimir only weeks earlier.

Vitali seemed to harbor ill will towards Haye after he backed out of the fight with him. However, it looks like Vitali’s thoughts about Haye have thawed somewhat as he’s now not nearly so negative as he was in the weeks following Haye’s disappearance from the negotiating table.

“He’s a serious fighter, but not a serious person,” Vitali Klitschko said. “Professional boxing is not just work; It’s about negotiations, contracts. To make that happen, you have to put a lot of work into them.”

Vitali and his brother Wladimir Klitschko have the goal of unifying all of the heavyweight titles. So, Haye may be a fighter that will be revisited by one of the two Klitschko brothers in the near future if Haye is able to capture the WBA heavyweight title with a win over Valuev on November 7th.

Haye might get his way in getting a large share of the revenue split against the Klitschko brothers, but in the end, he’ll still have the same problem as he did before. Two huge heavyweights with a tremendous weight, reach and size advantage over him. Let’s hope that when or if that time comes, Haye won’t back out again like he’s done twice in the past.