By Sean McDaniel: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye put on a great display of punching power in his 3rd round TKO win over Audley Harrison last weekend at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. With the impressive win, Haye is now being targeted by the Klitschko brothers for a bout next year. Bernd Bonte, the manager for the Klitschkos, is hoping Haye will agree to fight one of the Klitschko brothers next, possibly in Wembley Stadium.

In an article at cityam.com, Bonte says “We would be more than happy to make that fight. We already had a signed agreement [speaking about Haye’s previous agreement to fight Wladimir last year] but he [Haye] bailed out.” Haye came up with a mysterious back injury weeks before the fight with Wladimir, which wiped out the fight they were supposed to have in June of last year. Wladimir then replaced Haye with Ruslan Chagaev and blew him out in a 9th round stoppage. Haye, in turn, fought World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev and looked bad in winning a 12 round majority decision. Haye got the win but looked like a loser until the last seconds of the fight when he staggered Valuev, but then let him off the hook by playing it safe.

Bonte says “We want everything in one pot, with a 50-50 split. We would like to do the fight, but as long as we have a 50-50 split. We want the biggest money in the pot. If it comes from a sold out Wembly then we will go there.”

Wembly Stadium, located in London, England, fits 90,000 fans. That would be a great venue if Haye could draw enough fans to fill it. Haye makes more money from his television deal than the Klitschkos do. This is why they would like Haye’s money to be thrown in the pot, because it would mean a much bigger payday for Wladimir. However, Haye is reluctant to do that. He wants to keep his television money and have the Klitschkos keep theirs with everything else split 50-50. That’s not an appealing deal for the Klitschkos, and you can expect that the fight won’t be made unless Haye agrees to putting everything in the pot. Haye can still finish his career off next year feasting on guys like Chagaev or a rematch with Valuev before retiring at the age of 31 next year in October 2011. I expect Haye not to fight the Klitschkos and to continue to fight other, more beatable opponents.

As for Audley Harrison, he might end up losing some of his money for the Haye fight due to his lack of effort. Robert Smith, the secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, said Withholding some or all of Audley Harrison’s purse is certainly something we will have to consider. It was such a letdown for the 22,000 people at the M.E.N. Arena.” Harrison only threw one punch – a harmless jab – during the entire three rounds of the fight. Harrison was to receive $1.6 million for the fight.