By William Mackay: It seems like WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) is obsessed with the subject of retirement. When he’s not talking about his upcoming retirement next year in October at age 31, Haye is talking about sending his November 13th opponent Audley Harrison into a permanent retirement. This is what Haye had to say on the subject of Harrison and retirement in an interview with the BBC Sport: “I’m sick of hearing of him [Harrison], sick of reading about him, and sick of seeing the sight of him. My plan here is to put Audley once and for all into retirement. My last two fights against Nikolay Valuev, he’s not fought since. He’s looking at retiring. John Ruiz is officially retiring. I’m looking to retire my opponents.”

It certainly helps Haye get fighters to retire when they’re pushing 40 like Ruiz, Valuev and Harrison. That’s got to help Haye bolster his claims. Ruiz wouldn’t be retiring if he wasn’t as up there in age as he is now. The guy didn’t retire in the past after crushing losses, but he’s at the age where it’s time to get out. Valuev hasn’t fought since the Haye bout last year because of hand and shoulder problems that have nothing to do with the Haye fight.

If Haye wants to take credit for that, then that’s on him. Haye really didn’t land that many punches against Valuev in their fight. Indeed, Haye only threw 10 punches per round and didn’t land anything significant until the final round in the 12th when he knocked Valuev off balance with a wild right hand. Haye failed to go after Valuev and ruined his chance at trying to score a knockout.

Haye and Harrison fight on November 13th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. This is a fight that Haye wants rather than taking on the Klitschko brothers, which is what the boxing public has been trying to pressure Haye into doing without luck for the past year. It doesn’t look likely that Haye will be fighting the Klitschkos in early 2011, because Haye will have to fight a mandatory challenger for the World Boxing Association unless he wants to pay the fighter a step aside fee. Haye defeated Ruiz, who was his mandatory challenger in April, and is taking Harrison as his elective non-mandatory bout. You could have figured that Haye would select an easy mark for this defense and that appears to be what he’s doing with Harrison. However, Haye is still unproven and he’s still small for a heavyweight at only 6’2″ 217 pounds, and he could end up getting knocked out if Harrison fights with any kind of intensity.