By John F. McKenna (McJack): Charges and counter charges are being thrown around by the camps of former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) and WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (44-2, 40 KO’s).

Bernd Boente, the manager for the Klitschko brothers fired the opening salvo when he alleged basically that the “Hayemaker” was all bark and no bite and that he was dragging his heels in striking a deal to fight the WBC champion because he feared him. That got the ball rolling. No present or past heavyweight champion is going to sit idly by and let a statement like that go by without issuing a strong rebuttal.

The Klitschko camp did not have to wait long for Haye to fire back. Haye was quoted in Sky Sport.com saying:

“It makes no sense for me to turn down a fight I desperately want. Remember, the whole idea with going ahead with this Chisora fight was that a victory may lead to a fight with Vitali Klitschko.

“That was my plan, my reason for returning to the ring. I want to fight on July 14 and again in September, and have been telling people this for months now.”

Haye suffered a humiliating one sided points loss to WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO aand Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (57-3, 50 KO’s) last July. “The Hayemaker” was further humiliated when he at first blamed his loss partly on an injured pinky toe. Haye received a great deal of ridicule after the injured pinky toe excuse. Even his staunchest supporters in Great Britain did not buy the excuse.

The driving force behind Haye’s decision to return to the ring is undoubtedly his desire to erase the memory of his loss to Wladimir and go out on a winning note. Vitali Klitschko on the other hand has often stated that he wants to fight Haye so that he can complete the job his brother started and “Send Haye to the floor!” as he puts it.

It is no secret that Vitali will soon be retiring so that he can pursue a full time political career in the Ukraine. But when he retires, he wants to ride off into the sunset after having defeated as he sees it, the nemesis of the Klitschko family.

There will be more charges and counter charges to follow between the Haye and Klitschko camps. And of course the back and forth charges are always good for ticket sales.

Whatever else you say about David Haye he is a good self promoter. He has already marketed an electronic game based on the brawl to end all brawls at the press conference following the Klitschko – Chisora fight in February. Haye also demonstrated his acumen as a self promoter by leapfrogging past arguably other more deserving fighters when he took on Wladimir Klistchko last July, albeit in a losing effort.