By William Mackay: Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye wants to show that he’s better than he was in his last fight against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. He says the loss was more due to an off night rather than simply him being outclassed and outsized by the 6’6″ Wladimir.

Haye is saying that the money isn’t the issue for why he wants to take on WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko next, although it’s hard to buy that when the Klitschkos are the biggest names in the sport and will give Haye his biggest payday.

Speaking with the Telegraph.co.uk, Haye said “It’s not about the money for me. I know underachieved against Wladimir. I wasn’t firing on all cylinders for whatever reason. It was the real me in there, and you always want to go out showing everybody what you really have. So if I go out and give 100 per cent, I know I have a good chance of beating Vitali.”

It sounds like Haye is trying to con the boxing public again. He did a good job of getting boxing fans to purchase his pay per view bouts against Audley Harrison and Wladimir Klitschko, and Haye looked terrible in both fights. He won the Harrison bout, but didn’t really throw any punches until the 3rd round of the fight. Haye took a lot of criticism from angry fans who payed to see the fight on Sky.

And the Wladimir wasn’t much better, as Haye flopped on the canvas over and over in the fight, looking at the referee as if hoping he’d take off points from Wladimir. When he wasn’t falling down from any little contact from Wladimir, he was busy running and just looking to survive. It was painful to watch.

Now Haye is trying to convince boxing fans that he has a realistic chance of beating Vitali Klitschko, and it’s going to be a hard sell. Fans are wary of Haye now, and he’s not done anything to show that he’s improved from the Wladimir fight because he wants to go straight into a fight against Vitali and then retire. It looks like a cash out fight to me.