By Chris Williams: World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko has less than kind words for British heavyweight David Haye at a media workout at the Poundf4Pound gym, saying “Against me, Hay would have little chance to take the title. That’s why he didn’t to take the fight.”
Haye, 28, angered Vitali Klitschko recently when Haye chose to step away from negotiations for a fight and instead fight WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev. What seems to have burned up Klitschko is that Haye didn’t even contact him and let him know that the negotiations were off. Instead, Haye just disappeared and nothing was heard of him until the word came that he was set to fight Valuev.
“David Haye is not a serious person. I doubt he had an injury when he gave up the fight against Wladimir,” Vitali Klitschko said. Vitali is referring to his younger brother, IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who David Haye had a contract to fight on June 20th, in Germany.
Haye pulled out of the fight, stating that he had injured his back while sparring. This wiped the fight that Wladimir Klitschko had been waiting for six months to take. Instead, Wladimir was forced to salvage the bout by getting Ruslan Chagaev to step in and take the fight with only a few weeks to spar.
Whatever the case, it looks as if Vitali Klitschko is still smarting over Haye pulling out of the fight and hasn’t forgotten it. When Haye pulled out of his fight with Klitschko, he, too, had to find a replacement. Luckily for Klitschko, Arreola was idle and available to step in and take the fight.
However, it didn’t exactly give Arreola a great deal of time to get in good condition to take the fight. Hopefully, Arreola will be able to come in for the fight in reasonably good condition because he probably could have used another four to six weeks for training. Klitschko sees the fight as a difficult one and doesn’t think the bout will go the full 12 rounds.
It’s unknown whether Klitschko will be forgiving of Haye after he gets through fighting the seven foot Valuev on November 7th. If Klitschko holds a grudge and is unwilling to forgive Haye for pulling out of the fight, Vitali will only be hurting self in the process of getting back at Haye.
Vitali is 38, and doesn’t have a lot of time left to look for big money fights. In Haye’s case, he’s young at 28, and if his chin can hold out at the heavyweight level, he has a long time to come to get big money fights against other heavyweights in the future.
Vitali might be better served if he was to take a grown up look at his problem situation with Haye. Instead of seeing it from his own perspective, he needs to put himself in Haye’s shoes. David was only looking out for himself by trying to get the better deal. Vitali, of all people, should be adult enough to see that.
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