BOXING HEAVYWEIGHT SHOWDOWN
David Haye has hit back in the verbal fisticuffs with John Ruiz, claiming: "You might still be world champion if you had fans."
Wba heavyweight king Haye landed his dig in response to Ruiz's jibe that he only won the title from Nikolai Valuev because his supporters at ringside swayed the judges to give him the decision.
Haye feels there is a distinct whiff of sour grapes about Ruiz's comments because he lost his title and failed to regain it both times he fought Valuev in Germany.
He says at least he has fans and Ruiz could accommodate all his supporters in a phone box."Granted, my fight with Valuev was not the most action-packed of my career, but I had a game-plan and I won," said the two-weight world champion.
"And that's what it's all about. "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.
Despite this jibe, Haye has been restrained in his war of words with Ruiz compared to his all-out assault on Valuev.
The Londoner claims he doesn't need to get under the American's skin to beat him when he makes his first defence against him in Manchester's MEN Arena on Saturday, live on Sky Box Office HD. Haye has tried to think how Lennox Lewis would beat Ruiz and says he may ring the former undisputed world heavyweight champ.
"When I fought Valuev, part of my game-plan was to wind him up to make him come after me," he said. "I'm not that kind of guy normally and that was the only reason why I did it.
"For Ruiz, I don't need to try and get inside his head. I know I have the ability to beat him without having to unsettle him.
"Sometimes I ask myself how would Lennox Lewis have dealt with him and I think he would have broken him down before taking him out.
"I may give him a call because Lennox is a master strategist."
Two-time champ Ruiz's only knock-out during his 18-year pro career was a 19-second defeat to David Tua in 1996 and Haye claims he will become the second man to stop him by beating him "to within an inch of his life".
He said: "The only stoppage he's had was earlier in his career against David Tua and it was a flash knock-out.
"I don't think that will happen again and to stop him, I'm going to have to break him down and take him out.
"To do that, I'm going to have to beat him to within an inch of his life. I'm really going to have to do a number on this guy.
"I know he's got good powers of recovery and I'm really going to have to hammer away at him. But I know that if I keep chopping, the tree will eventually fall."
Like all of Haye's opponents, Ruiz feels the champ is chinny because of his five-round destruction at the hands of Carl Thompson in 2004, which remains his only pro defeat.
Haye, 29, is happy to let Ruiz delude himself this way because he knows he is a totally different fighter now.
"I've heard him say he's going to get on top of me the whole fight and that I'm chinny," he said.
"He thinks he has the game-plan to beat me and that he can do what Carl Thompson did to me.
"That defeat was one of those one-off things and it won't happen again. I was the architect of my own downfall that night and I've learned from that.
"I've proved to everyone that I've moved to a different level and on Saturday, Ruiz is also going to get acquainted with the new me."
Source: mirror.co.uk
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