By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) retired from boxing earlier today listing a number of goals that he had accomplished to help him make his decision, such as his title victories, his making a lot of money and to retire while he’s still young and in good mental condition.

But it’s doubtful Haye, who turned 31 today, will stay retired for any length of time, not when there are millions of dollars out there that Haye can scoop up in fights against the Klitschko brothers or the WBA champion Alexander Povetkin. Haye won’t be able to resist that kind of cash and is retirement was likely never a serious gesture on his part.

With his retirement, Haye might be able to squeeze out a better deal when it comes to negotiations with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in 2012. As it is right now, Haye doesn’t have a heavyweight title in his possession and without a title it will be difficult for him to get the kind of deal that he previously had with Wladimir Klitschko last July when the two fighters cut the financial pot down the middle.

Ideally, Haye would help himself if he fought for the WBA title against Alexander Povetkin and then, provided that he beat him, move ahead to fight Vitali. However, Haye wants the Vitali fight straightaway without a fight in between in it. This leaves him with only one option and that’s the retirement option to try and get a better deal from the big Ukrainian.

With Haye sitting on the shelf, it leaves Vitali in the position where he has to do the asking to get Haye to come back. In other words, Haye plays the passive role with Vitali being the aggressor looking to make the fight happen.

It’s a pretty transparent move on Haye’s part but it’s the only hand he has since he’s not interested in beating one or two top guys to get a better financial deal. Personally, I think Haye is stupid for not going after Povetkin because he’s easy mark and it would guarantee Haye a much better deal when it comes to fighting Vitali, but it looks like Haye wants no risk at all to get the Vitali payday. As such, he’ll end up with a lot less money.