By William Mackay: Tom Loeffler, the manager for K2 promotions, doesn’t think that it’s realistic that a fight can be put together between World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye and IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko with Haye asking for a 50-50 cut of the revenue. In an interview with Boxing Fanhouse, Loeffler says “We’ve had contact with Haye’s people to feel them out to see where they’re at and see what kind of financial structure to see if it’s possible [to put together a fight between Haye and Klitschko]. Adam Booth [the trainer/manager for Haye] has come out and said they wouldn’t accept anything less than a 50-50 deal. From our perspective, Wladimir is certainly the more marketable fighter. Haye has one title. Wladimir has three plus the Ring title. Wladimir has been champion for six years and regularly sells out soccer stadiums, so I think 50-50 is a little but unrealistic for them. But as Wladimir says, there is a lot of money in the pot, so there should be enough money to make the fight happen.”

Loeffler is correct, Wladimir does have the more belts and is probably the more marketable fighter compared to Haye. However, I don’t think Haye and Booth believe that, and that could be a problem in putting together a fight. When you’re dealing with a fighter who has a big ego like Haye, it’s very difficult to put a fight together because he seems himself on par with Wladimir, even though he hasn’t proven it in the ring against enough opposition.

It will take time for Haye to prove whether he’s on the same level as Wladimir, but since Haye is in a big hurry to fight Wladimir without having shown that he’s at his level, we have to take Haye at his word that he’s worth getting a 50-50 deal. That’s like hiring someone with little experience and then giving them top dollar for them having done a good job for a short period of time rather than for a prolonged period like Wladimir.

Wladimir, in the meantime, really wants to get at Haye and beat him up. Wladimir, in describing what he wants to do to Haye, says “The best scenario…Have you ever seen a pizza with a lot of ketchup and salami on it. That’s David’s fight after the fight, but I would love to punish him for 12 rounds…Haye is trying to say that both brothers have to fight in my mother’s backyard and he’s going to fight the winner. It just shows how desperate he is and shows his attitude. He’s not willing to fight.”

In talking about Haye’s t-shirt that he had made that depicted him holding the severed heads of both Klitschko brothers, Wladimir said “He [Haye] was trying to promote himself in a cheap way.”
Wladimir thinks that Haye is afraid of him, saying “I think it’s a great business decision strategically for him [not to fight Wladimir]. From a business side, he’s probably right. He [Haye] better keep fighting..Maybe Hopkins is next.”