By William Mackay: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) says he still plans on fighting the Klitschko brothers before retiring a year from now when he turns 31. Haye, 29, has a fight coming up against Audley Harrison (27-4, 20 KO’s) on November 13th, but Haye is going to have to move in high gear if he wants to fight both Klitschko brothers before his 31st birthday in October 2011.

In an article at thesun.co.uk, Haye said “It’s [to fight the Klitschko brothers] still the plan. There’s a year to make those unification fights happen, win them and then retire at the top just like Lennox Lewis did. The brothers know I am the most dangerous person on the planet for them, but I am sure the fights will happen and that I’ll win them.” It sounds like a pipe dream for Haye. I don’t know why he compares to Lewis he’s no Lewis. He seems to be a fighter that has picked the weakest of the heavyweight champions, Nikolay Valuev, won the title, and then defended it against old and weak opposition. That’s not how Lewis ran his career.

It’s good to know that Haye is sure the fights are going to happen, because few people think he’s going to build up the courage to take on either of the Klitschko brothers. It’s hard to agree with him that he can beat any of them, much less both. Haye didn’t look impressive in beating Nikolay Valuev last year, and was hit too often in beating 38-year-old John Ruiz by a 9th round stoppage in April. Ruiz would likely not land anything against the Klitschko brothers, yet he was able to land some hard shots and mark Haye up. Perhaps Haye is saving the Klitschko brothers until the very end after he’s milked his title a little more.

However, Haye could mess things up for himself if he gets hit with one of Harrison’s big left hands. Then the big money that Haye had hoped to get in the fights against the klitschko brothers would be down the drain. Of course, Haye could aways work his way back into a title shot against the brothers, as apposed to taking his way, but it would mean that he would have to extend his retirement date another year. I don’t that Haye would do that.

Haye thinks his fight with Harrison is going to be an easy one, saying “It’s going to be a massacre, one person destroying another person.” If Harrison lands something big on Haye’s chin, he could go. We’ve already seen Haye down against a weaker puncher than Harrison in his fight with journeyman Monte Barrett. Haye will likely beat Harrison, but it will be interesting to see what Haye does after that. Ideally, he should start looking to fight the Klitschko brothers at that point because if you take away a month to negotiate a fight with one of them, it would still be at least four more additional months before he fights the first bout against one of the Klitschko brothers.

He could then arrange for a fight against the other brother and make his retirement date next year. But if Haye decides to milk his WBA title some more, then he’s going to have to extend his retirement date or else give up on the idea of facing both of the Klitschko brothers.