“The problem for Wladimir [the WBO and IBF champion] is that he has no defining fight in this era. For him, it is his brother Vitali [the WBC champion], but they would never fight each other. There is no one out there big enough to challenge them. I don't think David Haye really wants to fight either of the brothers anyway,” Steward told Telegraph Sport.
Conventional wisdom suggests that Steward may be right about the two brothers yet Haye vehemently disagrees about the proposition, and chuckles at the assertion that he does not want to meet them in a ring.
After Haye took to Ruiz like a blank canvas and painted him with the full pallet of fistic colours, why wouldn’t he? They said Ruiz, stopped only once in 54 fights would be awkward, and yet Haye brutalised the American into submission. According to trainer Adam Booth, the pair have already plotted a game plan for the brothers Klitschko, and they know they are beatable.
Haye explained: "Corrie Sanders was the same size as me. He knocked Wladimir out. Chris Byrd beat Vitali. Ross Purity knocked Wladimir out. Lamon Brewster knocked out Wladimir. So the guys who beat them have been small heavyweights. They're both very beatable.” There is not a chink of light creating shadows on Haye’s ironclad self-belief as he seeks his ultimate goal of unifying the belts and following in the tradition of Lennox Lewis. Haye will need that unshakeable self-assurance to unify the belts. Haye eschews Steward’s view: "All their careers the Klitschkos have fought guys who are clearly overweight, out of shape, happy to keep getting a payday.”
“This Albert Sosnowski guy [whom Vitali Klitschko fights on May 29 in Germany], Audley was favourite to beat him, then he gets a title shot [against Vitali]. You can understand him. He's in it for the business, but Vitali was talking about Valuev, then that never materialised.”
“Now he's fighting this Sosnowski guy. His career is littered with guys like that, who he's clearly going to beat very easily. So I don't really pay him that much attention. Valuev wouldn't be as easy as Vitali thinks.”
The negotiations for Haye’s unification contests will be long and protracted, and will involve the help of Golden Boy Promotions after a breakdown in communication between Adam Booth, Haye’s trainer and manager, and Bernd Bonte, business manager to the Klitschko brothers. It is conceivable that one of the contests would be in Germany, the other in London, with Haye expressing a wish to fight at Wembley.
“Wembley would be a really big event, and would make sense financially, but we’ll see how it progresses,” added Haye.
One thing is certain, if Haye emulates former undisputed champion Lewis, he will not be hanging about. Haye explained: "I don't think I could squeeze in half a dozen [defences], to be honest. My whole plan is just to become the No 1, undisputed heavyweight in the world. Having defences against the [Albert] Sosnowskis or [Eddie] Chambers or anyone like that – who are the only other guys really out there at the moment – is not going to add to my legacy.”
Have also ruled out a meeting with light-heavyweight Bernard Hopkins, 45, the American ring legend, who had avenged a 17-year-old defeat by Roy Jones Jr, only hours after Haye had beaten Ruiz, in Las Vegas. Hopkins had then immediately called out Haye.
Hopkins had insisted for several months that Haye was on his radar. Curiously, Jones Jr defeated John Ruiz, Haye’s beaten opponent, in a heavyweight title fight in 2003. Former middleweight champion Hopkins defeated Jones by unanimous decision in an ill-tempered bout.
The non-title fight became a brawl after the bell in the sixth round after Hopkins took a blow to the back of the head. In the aftermath of the fight, Hopkins said: "People will think the punch in the back of my head made me a little crazy, but I want Haye."
Hale said on Monday: “Hopkins is 45 and is one of my heroes. I think he wants a payday but I won’t be fighting him. It’s not the challenge I want.”
Source: telegraph.co.uk
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