By Dan Ambrose: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) is quite pleased that he and IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) are once again on the verge of fighting after Wladimir pulled out of his April 30th fight against Dereck Chisora due to an abdominal injury that has been slow to heal.

Haye was against this tune-up fight from happening from day one and now that it’s off the table, Haye is over-joyed and looking forward to fighting Klitschko in June or July.

There is one of two dates that are currently being kicked around – June 25th or July 2nd. Neither of them will work if Wladimir’s abdominal injury doesn’t heal. If this injury is legit and not just an excuse for Wladimir to get out of the Chisora fight, it could easily linger on into June or July. Abdominal injuries are often slow to heal and sometimes become chronic problems. Wladimir isn’t helping himself if he’s trying to come back too soon over and over.

Haye, speaking to the telegraph.co.uk, said he’s going to violently knockout the 34-year-old Klitschko and points out that he does well against tall fighters from Easter Europe. Haye has fought only a small handful of fighters from Eastern Europe during his pro career but they obviously weren’t in the class of Klitschko. However, Haye did beat them quickly each time and perhaps he can blitz Wladimir early like he did with these fighters.

It will be interesting to see if Haye can do the same thing with Wladimir that he’s done against the other tall Eastern Europeans that he’s fought in the past. If Haye does well against Wladimir and scores a knockout, Haye will get the chance to prove he can beat an Eastern European fighter that doesn’t have a weak chin by facing Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir’s brother.

That’s a fight that Haye will have a lot of pressure on him to take because of the money that will be thrown his way. Of course, boxing fans will want to see the fight as well, and if Haye opts to avoid Vitali, which is what it seems that Haye has been doing since moving up to the heavyweight division, he’ll take an enormous amount of criticism and it may taint his victory over Wladimir.

Haye has to fight both brothers if he wants to retire with the respect of boxing fans. However, he’s going to have problems with Wladimir unless he’s as chinny as Haye seems to think he is.