By Dan Ambrose: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) says he plans on retiring on his 30th birthday next year on October 13th. This is some kind of vow that he made as a 17-year-old and he plans on keeping this promise that he made to himself, even if it means walking away from countless millions that he could make in big fights against the Klitschko brothers and other fighters in the heavyweight dvision. It seems that Haye has a big fear of ending up like a lot of heavyweights that stick around the sport too long and end up taking punishment in the last part of their careers.

Haye doesn’t want that to happen to him, and by retiring at 30, he’s almost guaranteed to avoid taking punishment. Haye can help himself even more if he avoids fighting the Klitschko brothers, because those two guys, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, are Haye’s main competition, although there are a number of other heavyweights in the division that can give Haye some problems because of their power and youth.

In an article at ESPN, Haye says “I’ve said when I turned pro, I’ll retire when I’m 30. So far that gives me until October 13 next year.” With Haye, you don’t know if he’s serious or not. This could be just a cry for attention by Haye and a way to get boxing fans to turn their attention away from the fights that he’s failed to make with the Klitschko brothers. Haye is expected to announce his upcoming November 13th fight against 39-year-old Audley Harrison on Tuesday.

This is a fight that few boxing fans want to see outside of the UK. However, it’s a fight that will likely be wildly popular in England because Harrison is a minor celebrity and Haye is a huge star over there. With Haye seemingly wasting fights on guys like Harrison, he’s going to have very little time left in his career to fight the Klitschko brothers by next year in October.

It’s certainly possible, but Haye hasn’t been easy to negotiate with and he’s taking so much time off between fights now that he’s moved up to the heavyweight division. It’s almost like Haye has become the Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the heavyweight division, especially with his inability to agree to fights against the Klitschkos. Those are the only heavyweights that boxing fans want to see Haye against, and Wladimir recently reportedly offered Haye a 50-50 deal but that wasn’t good enough to get a fight with him.

Haye has much less experience at heavyweight compared to Wladimir and his brother. Most of Haye’s experience at that level has been limited to older fighters nearing 40. Harrison is yet another one of the many older fighters that Haye has been going after at heavyweight. With only a year to go in his career before retiring, it’s going to be interesting to see if Haye starts stepping it up after the Harrison fight is through.