By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Ukrainian-born WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko , is perturbed. And the source of his ire is England's WBA titlist, David Haye.
Wladimir Klitschko, whose 38-year-old brother, Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs), is the WBC's champion, wants very badly to fight Haye, which would give the siblings sole supremacy of all of the heavyweight belts.
Haye angered the Klitschkos last June, when he showed up at a press conference in Germany wearing a T-shirt depicting a cartoon of himself standing in a ring while holding, aloft, their decapitated heads with their lifeless bodies at his feet.
Wladimir Klitschko, who called Haye's behavior, "Impudent," and, "Unspeakable," at the time, released this video on Monday calling out Haye.
A winner of 12 straight fights, nine of them by knockout, Wladimir Klitschko had much more to say about Haye (24-1, 22 KOs) in this Q&A.
FanHouse: Why did you choose to make this video calling out David Haye?
Wladimir Klitschko: Because this is the only fight that I want. You can read an article, but I wanted to make it personally, so that the boxing fans could actually see that I want to make this fight. We can make this fight. We've been chasing David Haye around and calling him out. But he has been bitching out on a fight against us.
But now, he can make the fight. I can make the fight. There are rules within the IBF that allows me, as the champion, if I'm going to fight a championship unification, to move the mandatory aside. I have time, and I want to show the world and the boxing fans. It's enough. Now, David Haye can make the fight as well. He knows about it, and we need to make the fight.
I will not be risking losing any title. I just made my mandatory defense of the WBO title against Eddie Chambers. The next mandatory defense is supposed to be against Alexander Povetkin, and I will do it if David Haye decides not to fight me. But I know that the IBF or any other organization will move to take the fight with David Haye if there is going to be a unification fight.
David Haye is the only title that the Klitschko brothers do not have. We have the IBF, we have the IBO, we have the WBO, we have the WBC, and The Ring Magazine championship. But we don't have the WBA. That's the only title we don't have. That's why want the unification.
I doubt that since I've been champion for such a long time that any of the organizations would stop me from making a championship unification against a David Haye.
FH: Has any other fighter every angered you as much as David Haye has?
Klitschko: Never, never, ever. I can't stand this guy. The way that he presents himself in the public, and the way that he presented my brother and myself with our heads cut off. The way that he represents the sport, I don't really like it for the public.
When he's presenting himself with our heads cut off, I can't take it, I can't stand it and I want to fight this guy. It's personal. I think that David Haye deserves to get his punishment from a real champion, and that's why I'm really pushing for it right now.
FH: Has K-2 Promotions made any attempts to contact Sauerland Promotions on behalf of David Haye to make this go forward?
Klitschko: We are in negotiations, and it's pretty complicated, because Golden Boy Promotions is involved in a certain way with David Haye, and Sauerland is involved. David has an option to fight a rematch with Nikolay Valuev, but now, probably, he will not. So, he can make it, and we are in negotiations.
But I wanted the public to know that I did not pull out of the fight last year in June. I did everything to make this fight happen, and it was David Haye who pulled out. Then, Vitali was supposed to fight him, and he bailed out again. And then, he talks so much bad things '-- that he wanted to do this and he wanted to do that.
But action speaks louder than words, and he never came forward. So it's been all talk. That's why I'm looking forward to getting him into the ring, why I want to show the public that I'm ready for him. I don't know what he's ready for. I always say that my best fight is in front of me and never in the past.
I'm always looking for my most difficult fight and expecting it in every fight, but of course, this fight with David Haye would be really exciting, because I'll get challenged. My performance is as good as the challenge. But an angry Wladimir Klitschko could be the best one.
FH: In which country would a Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye fight take place?
Klitschko: The Haye fight would be such an exciting, extraordinary fight because he's such an extraordinary talker. So he talks and promotes himself very good. So I think that this fight would be very interesting for American boxing fans and the fans around the world.
Where is the fight going to be staged? That depends on the broadcaster -- HBO or Showtime -- what they want to do. Either it's going to be a pay per view fight, or there's going to be another case to make the fight happen. We just have to have interest from American television. That's No. 1.
And then, you'd have to see which arena could make it happen. It could be in any country. Right now, it's important to make the deal with David Haye. It's not just about the money, it's about the last belt that the Klitschkos don't have, and we have a personal issue with David Haye, and that's why I want this fight so badly. I'm really pushing it and looking forward to it.
FH: How do you explain how you have gone from being knocked out by Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster, to winning 12 straight fights, nine of them by knockouts, with eight wins over Americans over six years?
Klitschko: I definitely feel that I thought that, like, three years ago, that that was my peak. But I keep peaking, and peaking, and peaking and I just love the sport. And I understand that I'm a professional, and I believe that I understand more about what it is to be a true athlete and a professional boxer.
I prepare for my fights so well, that my opponents actually have no chance to compete with me. I'm actually as good as my challenger is in the ring. If my challenger is not that good, then I get critiqued or criticized for kind of being boring. But let's face it, out of the 53 wins that I have, 48 of them, I've ended up with a TKO or a KO. So 48 fighters didn't make it.
I definitely can punch in the earlier rounds or the late rounds with both hands -- the right hand or the left hand. I just feel so confident so comfortable about me being in the ring, like I never ever have.
FH: How do you feel about your last performance against Eddie Chambers?
Klitschko: Eddie Chambers was just such an experienced fighter. He had around 35 fights, and he has beaten Samuel Peter and Calvin Brock, and this guy and that guy. He had beaten an unbeaten fighter, a Ukrainian, Alexander Dimitrenko, who is even taller than I am. And he did it in such an impressive way.
I think that Eddie was really, really good, and that he was very, very fast. But after the fourth or fifth round, his strategy completely collapsed, and he just lost confidence. And then, instead of trying to win the fight, he was doing the same thing that Sultan Ibragimov did against me in Madison Square Garden in New York.
He was just trying not to get punched and not get knocked out in a very defensive way. And when you have one fighter being offensive, and the other, defensive, it's very difficult to make a competitive fight, and an exciting fight. Also, one week before my fight, we saw the Manny Pacquiao fight against Joshua Clottey.
It was the same situation. Pacquiao was so dominant, but his opponent didn't give him a chance. Pacquiao couldn't finish the fight earlier. When one of the fighters is really defensive and doesn't want to fight, then you can chase him forever. So I was chasing Eddie Chambers for the last round, and [trainer] Emmanuel [Steward] was pushing me, like, 'Come on, do it.!'
And I was trying. I got even upset myself, and I was like, 'Manny, relax, I'm trying.' But, Eddie was awkward and was really fast and crazy awkward with his upper body the way he ducks from the punches and stuff like that. It wasn't that easily, but, eventually, one punch, and that was it.
But I felt really confident in that fight. I knew that he couldn't really reach me, and that he couldn't really touch me. I knew that I as winning every round. I was putting myself under pressure.
FH: What's your assessment of the American heavyweight?
Klitschko: In the U.S., people talk like the heavyweight division is dead. In Europe, we're saying the heavyweight division is alive. In two days, we have sell outs of over 60,000 people attending fights in soccer stadiums. We have ratings of 14 million people in Germany watching the fight. It doesn't matter which one of the Klitschko brothers are fighting, people are getting excited.
And we're very excited and thankful for that. In the U.S., we need the broadcasters, HBO, to broadcast the fight. Last fight, with Chambers, I was very upset that HBO didn't broadcast, because you have to give credit to the best American challenger, Eddie Chambers. He's American, and he flew overseas and he was fighting the heavyweight championship of the world.
To not show it, you're kind of disrespectful to the sport, and, ultimately, disrespectful to Eddie Chambers. Emmanuel keeps telling me, 'Wladimir, you just have to keep winning the fights, keep winning the fights, and those big fights are coming up.'
He says, 'It was the same situation with Mike Tyson, it was the same situation, with Lennox Lewis, it was the same situation with Evander Holyfield, same thing with Joe Louis.' You have to just stay focused and stay active, and the big fights in the U.S. with American contenders will come up, and it will be exciting again.
I trust Manny, and I think that he's right. I just have to keep winning, and that's what I'm doing.
FH: Finally, would you fight your brother under any circumstances?
Klitschko: There's always an exception to every rule. If the world was going to go down, and our fight could save the world, probably, we're going to make the fight.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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