By Scott Gilfoid: Bernd Boente, the manager for WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, says former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye bypassed an offer to fight Vitali in September and instead accepted the July 14th fight against Dereck Chisora.

Boente doesn’t understand why Haye did this, but he thinks it’s going to cost Haye the opportunity to fight Vitali now because he could be retiring in October if he’s elected to office in Ukraine.

Boente said to the Press Association Sport “There was a contract from us for [Haye] to fight Vitali in September but he chose to fight Chisora instead because it’s an easier task. I think he never really wanted to fight Vitali. The guy is always talking. He barks like a dog and he does that because he is mostly afraid. I don’t think it [Haye-Vitali] will happen. It will definitely not happen in September because we are already talking to a couple of different opponents for then and it is too close for Haye to fight him after his fight against Chisora.”

Bah, who cares? Vitali is at the end, and Haye won’t get much out of beating a 40-year-old Vitali at this point in his career. But if Vitali REALLY wanted the Haye fight, he’d take it, but I don’t think he wants it. If he did want it he wouldn’t go making plans for September and would leave his fight date open for that time.

Haye doesn’t need Vitali to make big bank. After he defeats Chisora in July, he can turn around and make quick work of David Price or take on WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povekin. That won’t be a hard fight for Haye to get, because Povetkin would jump at the chance to fight Haye, and it would be a big fight in Germany or the UK. Klitschko and his brother Wladimir aren’t even needed to make a big fight. But what it comes down to is this: If Vitali really wanted a fight against Haye, he’d hang around to fight him in September, October or November. But to go ahead and fight someone else with a lesser name, that just tells me that there’s no interest in going after a Haye fight. I don’t blame Vitali, because Haye is all wrong for him. Haye moves too much, is too hard to hit and is too fast for Vitali. Wladimir was able to easily handle Haye because he’s athletic, and has fast hand speed. Vitali has none of those qualities in his game, and he’d just end up getting exposed by Haye.

I think Haye made the right decision to take the Chisora fight first before trying for a bout against Vitali. By facing Chisora first, Haye is redeeming himself for his loss against Wladimir, while at the same time showing the differences between him and Vitali against a common opponent. Vitali struggled like heck against Chisora in beating him last February. If Haye can beat Chisora with ease, he’ll improve his chances of getting a better financial deal with Vitali. At the same time, he’d be making a fight between him and Vitali much bigger. I don’t see why on earth Boente can’t see what Haye is doing as a positive instead of seeing as a bad thing.