Fresh off his exciting and impressive 9th-round stoppage victory over the gutsy John Ruiz, WBA heavyweight champion David Haye has been talking about his plans and hopes for the future. Appearing on BBC TV's Breakfast show, Haye, sporting a blackened left eye that needed "a few stitches," beamed as he spoke about fighting the Klitschkos as soon as he can.
The 29-year-old with the 24-1(22) record also made it clear how he intends to stick with his plan of retiring from the sport before he turns 31..
"I want to retire before I'm 31," Haye told the BBC. "Four [more] fights would be ambitious and I need to get cracking so the sooner we can get these fights [with the Klitschkos] sorted the better. It's very difficult to hold all the belts at the same time, but it can be done. I think I'm the best, but so do they [the Klitschkos].
"It could possibly be [Nikolai] Valuev again next, but I think it will be one of the Klitschkos by the end of the year. I want the fights that the fans want to see. We're going to start sitting around the table. They've [Wladimir and Vitali] both got fights coming up, so once they've got their obligations out of the way we'll sit down and thrash it out."There is no doubt the two Klitschkos want to fight Haye, and the fans do want to see these match-ups also. Hopefully, this time a deal can be made that leaves both sides happy and a Haye-Klitschko fight will actually go ahead. Haye promises that when he and either brother do get in the ring it will be an "amazing fight," and most fans do not doubt this. Nobody will be happy with what Haye said with regards to a Valuev rematch, but there is that rematch clause the Russian giant has.
However, one other fighter who has been calling out Haye, in Bernard Hopkins, does not look like getting his chance to win the WBA heavyweight belt. The amazing 45-year-old again made it clear he wants Haye when being interviewed after his ugly points win over Roy Jones Junior, but "The Hayemaker" told BBC he is not interested.
"I think he just wants a big payday, to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world he can demand big money," Haye said of Hopkins. "Bernard Hopkins is one of my idols, but now he's 45-years-of-age, he fought another 40-year-old on the same night as me and it was a dire fight for everybody in attendance."
The long awaited Hopkins-Jones II sure was a fight that was anything but great, and a number of people felt whilst watching it that Hopkins, who has fought off Father Time for so long, showed his age at last.
As brave as he is, as clever a fighter as he is and as much as he still thrives on a challenge, we don't want to see Hopkins embarrassed by a heavyweight titlist who is at his very peak. What we do want is for Haye to get it on with the Klitschkos. However, there could be some tough negotiating ahead for that to happen.
Source: eastsideboxing.com
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