By Sean McDaniel: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye could end up facing Audley Harrison in October if Haye isn’t able to negotiate a fight with IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. If Haye can’t put together a mega fight between him and Wladimir, then Haye will move ahead and fight former 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Harrison instead in a fight that would be huge in England, but mean little elsewhere.

This will be Haye’s second title defense of his WBA heavyweight belt, which he won last year with a 12 round majority decision over Nikolay Valuev in November. Haye defeated John Ruiz by a 9th round stoppage in April in an impressive outing. The wins over Ruiz and Valuev have established Haye’s heavyweight credentials and made people believe that he would have a chance at beating the Klitschko brothers. Before those fights, few boxing fans believed that the former cruiserweight champion Haye would have any chance against the Klitschkos.

Although a fight against Harrison would bring in far less money than bouts against either of the Klitschko brothers, it would still give Haye a nice payday and make him more of a star in the UK than he currently is. Plus, an impressive win over Harrison would likely give Haye even more bargaining power to get a better deal against either of the Klitschkos. Currently, the word is that Wladimir is offering a 50-50 split of the revenue with no options.

This is obviously very good terms but Haye might be looking for something more favorable for him than that and if he can beat Harrison and maybe another heavyweight or two, Haye could find himself fully in the driver’s seat in the negotiations with the Klitschko brothers. Haye won’t receive the huge money from beating guys like Ruiz and Harrison that he will against the Klitschkos, but there’s far less danger facing Harrison and the other heavyweight contenders than it is in trying to beat either of the Klitschko brothers. Haye can take his time, because he’s only 29 and doesn’t need to rush into a fight against the Klitschkos if he’s not happy with the contract terms.

In an article at the Daily Star, Adam Booth, the manager for Haye, had this to say: “The negotiations are delicately balanced. Tongues are going to start wagging now Audley has vacated the European title, but David has six options for his next opponent. There are two Klitschko brothers, Audley, Nikolay Valuev, who has a rematch clause with David, Tomasz Adamek, who has strong backing from HBO and a lot of Polish support over here, and a few lesser-known opponents. We could go for an easy second defense, but David doesn’t want that.”

Booth acknowledges that Haye will take big criticism if he fights Harrison rather than the Klitschko brothers. However, he also sees that the Harrison fight would be huge in the UK, and that’s something that is hard to turn away from. You can understand why Haye and Booth would want to take the fight against Harrison first. Harrison is 38, and can be beaten again at any time.

Right now, Harrison is the hot fighter in the UK because of his 12th round knockout win over Michael Sprott. This is the time to fight Harrison because he’s too old and too vulnerable to wait on a fight against him. The Klitschko brothers will keep winning without problems and will be there for Haye once he gets through with Harrison or whoever Haye plans on fighting after the Harrison bout.