David Haye willing to wait for Vitali fight, wants to KO him then retire

By Boxing News - 12/12/2011 - Comments

Image: David Haye willing to wait for Vitali fight, wants to KO him then retireBy William Mackay: Former two division world champion David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) is willing to wait his turn at getting a shot against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (43-2, 40 KO’s), even if it means Haye having to wait as long as five years to get that shot. Haye doesn’t care. Although he’s technically retired, he wants to fight one more time, win the World Boxing Council strap, and then go back into retirement.

Of course, if Vitali lost to Haye, Vitali’s brother IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko would step up and be ready to slap Haye back down again and take back Vitali’s belt. Wladimir made it look easy in beating Haye last July by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision. If Haye beats Vitali, the money would be too tempting for Haye to go into retirement without facing Wladimir again in another 50-50 revenue split fight.

As of now, Haye is waiting in line behind Dereck Chisora, who faces Vitali on February 18th, for his shot at the 40-year-old Vitali.

Haye told thesun.co.uk “When myself and Vitali potentially fight is unknown as of yet, but we’re still talking. I can wait as long as it takes. He’s 40 at the moment. I’ve just turned 31. If he want to leave it five years, that’s fine by me. I would have lied to my fans about retiring if I fight again. But those same fans obviously wouldn’t ideally want me to finish on a loss. They would want me to finish by knockout either Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko.”

I figured Haye wouldn’t stay retired long when he announced his retirement earlier in the year, and sure enough Haye is ready to get beat again. I wish I could say he’ll do better this time but I don’t think he will. Vitali is a better than Wladimir in terms of his chin and he’s much more willing to mix it up, Vitali will force Haye to fight and likely take him out by the 5th round at the latest. Haye doesn’t have the chin to take the kinds of shots that other Vitali victims have withstood.



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