By William Mackay: Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) says he’ll be retiring in October of this year on his 31st birthday. Haye is waiting for IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO’s) to say whether he’ll fight him again without Haye having to fight anyone in between.

Haye doesn’t want to work his way back into a title shot and figures that his name alone, along with the big money that he would help bring it would be enough for Wladimir to make the immediate rematch.

As of now, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Wladimir hasn’t said a word about taking on Haye is his next fight, and that should give Haye a big hint that he needs to either hang up his gloves a little earlier than October. Haye would do well try and use the little time left in his career to schedule one more fight to squeeze in before October.

He’s apparently not open to fighting Wladimir’s brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, who doesn’t seem to care whether Haye fights a tune-up bout or not. In the absense of Wladimir showing interest in fighting him again, a fight against Vitali would be Haye’s best option to making one more big payday before he hangs up his gloves. A Vitali fight would the the equivalent of Haye getting a golden parachute retirement. He’s making a big mistake by not agreeing to this fight, because Wladimir is not going to change his mind about fighting Haye next.

Wladimir doesn’t see the point in giving Haye a rematch after beating him so easily. Haye has to redeem himself before Wladimir will fight him again, and Haye is resistant to that. This is why Vitali be the perfect choice for Haye, because it gives him a good payday, which is what he wants, and it also gives him a chance to redeem himself. If he wins, then he can a Wladimir rematch, but only if he sticks around past his retirement.