David Haye has vowed to "beat John Ruiz within an inch of his life" when the two meet for the WBA heavyweight championship on Saturday evening.
The veteran Ruiz is renowned as a durable competitor, having only been stopped once in his career - 14 years ago against David Tua. To beat the American, Haye acknowledges that he is going to have to employ a more aggressive strategy than he used when defeating Nikolai Valuev in November 2009 to win the title.
Haye, who was nursing an injured hand during that contest, often appeared more interested in evading Valuev's reach than in throwing blows - a strategy he acknowledges will not bear any fruit against Ruiz. "I'm going to have to beat him to within an inch of his life. I know he's got good powers of recovery and I'm really going to have to hammer away at him. I know that if I keep chopping, the tree will eventually fall," Haye said.
Ruiz has regularly made reference to the Valuev fight in his verbal jousting with Haye, with his most recent jibe claiming that Haye only won the bout because his vociferous support at ringside swayed the judges towards awarding him the win.
Responding to this suggestion, a bristling Haye took a swipe at Ruiz's in-ring style. "He can talk about the judges, but maybe if he had some fans he might still be world champion. Throughout my career, I have fought to entertain people and I am an exciting fighter. Maybe if he had fought more instead of just hugging people to death, he might have some fans too," he said.
Source: espn.co.uk
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