David Haye embraces 'Superman' role for John Ruiz bout -- The Guardian

By Kevin Mitchell, Guardian.co.uk

David Haye has reached new heights of hyperbole, warning the American John Ruiz to be ready to face Superman when they share a ring in Manchester on 3 April.

The Londoner surpassed most previous efforts for ticket-selling when he belittled the 7ft, 22st Nikolai Valuev in the days leading up to his audacious burglary of the Russian's WBA heavyweight title in Nuremberg last November. He was a hairy, smelly freak, Haye taunted – before producing a performance that would not have been out of place in the Russian's beloved Ballet Russe.

For his first defence Haye plans an entirely different strategy and tonight he described graphically the pre-fight ritual that changes him from a laid-back dude into a cross between a man in cape and underpants and Usain Bolt. "In the lead-up to fights," he said, "I'm very relaxed, very calm. It's the warm-up in the changing room when I switch on. I don't even think about the fight until then. Some fighters are bouncing about the walls but I switch off. Then it's like someone flicks a switch in me."

That moment, he says, comes when he begins to wrap his hands in the metres of cotton that protect his gnarled fists. "When I'm training, I use heavier crepe for wraps, for protection – but you're not allowed to use them in competition. So when it comes to the fight, the wraps are softer. That's what hits me. You can feel your knuckles through the cotton.

"I only fight twice a year. So as soon as I put them on I know. I can feel it cut against my hand. The only time it ever happens is right before a fight. My whole body switches on. It feels like I'm Superman. No matter what happens, I'm just quick, I can see everything move in slow motion. My sight, my smell, my hearing, everything is heightened. It's like I can go out there and fly.

"As time goes on, I pick up the pace, stretching, shadow-boxing. You're sort of teasing your body. By the time you go out, your body's just itching to explode. You've got to hold it in, waiting for the first bell. Then you go out like a sprinter out of the blocks."

He does not expect to walk through walls on Saturday week but one senses the growing force in an athlete who leaves nothing to chance in his preparation. Haye reckons that, at 29 and with a career deadline of his 31st birthday next year, he is nearing his best. "This year and next year will by my peak time," he said. This should, he reckons, leave him enough time to beat Ruiz and the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali.

Haye first has to get out of a contracted rematch with Valuev but expects the big man to "go down another road". That would at least allow Superman to be king of the world without having to leap another tall building in a single bound.

Source: guardian.co.uk