Former cruiserweight king David ‘The Hayemaker’ Haye has once again reiterated that he’ll be big enough and hit hard enough to shatter the jaw and reign of heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko – despite the Ukrainian’s concerns that the Bermondsey man needed to “grow a bit”.
The hard-hitting pair engaged in a London head-to-head earlier this year – filmed exclusively by Setanta Sports – and Klitschko insisted the go-getting Haye should retreat to the back of a queue consisting of mandatory challengers Tony Thompson and Alexander Povetkin. With one down, Haye has now been bumped up a rung. Klitschko’s worry over Haye’s lack of heavyweight stature has also been put to bed in the months since.
“I’ve only just started to get back into serious training and I’m currently at a lean and mean 16 stone 8 pounds (232 lbs; 105 KG),” explained the former WBC/WBA and WBO cruiserweight titleholder Haye. “Klitschko was worried that I wouldn’t be big enough to face him, but the scales don’t lie and I’m well over the 16 stone mark and in great shape already. I’m eating well, living well and doing some serious training. My body fat is at 12 per cent and I’m currently in better shape than the majority of the division even at this early stage.”
Not only that, Haye, in his current state, significantly outweighs previous Klitschko challengers Sultan Ibragimov (15’9; 219 lbs; 99 KG), Lamon Brewster (16’4; 228 lbs; 103 KG), Calvin Brock (16’; 224 lbs; 101 KG) and Chris Byrd (15’3; 213 lbs; 96 KG). He’s also substantially heavier than Corrie Sanders (16’1; 225 lbs; 102 KG), the South African who obliterated Klitschko so dramatically back in March 2003.
“The weight issue is a non-issue so long as you carry the speed, power and athleticism that I’ll be entering the heavyweight division with,” explained the 27-year-old Haye. “Being heavy is only an advantage if you know how to use it to your advantage and the other guy lets you. What good is it being 6’6 and 18 stone if you’re content to just hug your opponent for 12 rounds and try and poke his eyes out with your left glove? I have the perfect kryptonite for Klitschko’s physique. He doesn’t need to worry about that.
“I’ll be similar in size to Sanders when I box Klitschko and we all know what happened there. Sanders (a pro standard golfer) had to be dragged off the golf course to knock out Klitschko. Can you imagine Lennox Lewis getting chinned by Colin Montgomerie? Sanders even knocked Klitschko out with a golf swing. Sanders had flash backs to being on the last hole at Wentworth and knocked Klitschko out with an approach shot. Imagine what sort of damage Sanders could have done if he threw an actual punch. When my right hand lands Klitschko will be wishing it was a golf club.”
Haye – back in the UK attending media engagements – will station his heavyweight voyage out of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (T.R.N.C), where last week he officially opened a state-of-the-art boxing gym. Working alongside the other boxers in the Hayemaker team, Haye is relishing the opportunity to embark on his impending assault on the heavyweight landscape. Having watched Klitschko’s recent slaying of the disappointing Thompson, the British torchbearer is as confident as ever.
“It wasn’t pretty but Klitschko got the job done and I’m glad he pulled through,” said Haye, currently 21-1 (20 KO). “He finished the fight with a highlight reel knockout and it was the kind of finish that will probably disguise everything that went before it. Let’s face it, the fight wasn’t a good one for boxing or the heavyweight division. There was no anticipation and no excitement before it – and there was even less after the first round ended.”
The Hayemaker – currently ranked as a heavyweight at no.5 by the World Boxing Council (WBC) – continued: “You can read Klitschko like a very long and very boring Russian novel. Once you’ve read it once, you won’t want to or need to read it again. He grabs, he hugs and he waves his left hand in your face like a blind man. They call Vitali Klitschko ‘Dr. Iron Fist’ – well maybe ‘Dr. Limp Wrist’ would be more suitable for little Wlad and his weird excuse for a jab.”
Haye’s heavyweight curtain raiser will take place in mid-November at Greenwich’s stunning 20,000-seater O2 Arena against a well-known top 10 heavyweight. The fight will mark the first of four Haye bouts screened live and exclusively by Setanta Sports – the new home of British and world boxing.
Expect an explosive announcement regarding the opponent within the next few weeks.
Also expected imminently is an official heavyweight ranking courtesy of the World Boxing Organisation (WBO). Klitschko, the WBO champion, better be prepared.
“Get ready to see that queue becoming even shorter when the WBO give me their ranking,” teased Haye.
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