David Haye set to unveil HAYEMAKER MAGAZINE before Ruiz showdown -- Eastside Boxing

Eastside Boxing

Renowned for his exploits in the boxing ring, Britain’s world heavyweight champion David ‘The Hayemaker’ Haye has recently discovered that the pen is every bit as mighty as the sword – or glove. The current WBA world heavyweight king has put his name and distinctive touch to HAYEMAKER MAGAZINE, a commemorative, 192-page, glossy sports magazine, to be released on Saturday, April 3rd. Fight fans can get their hands on the exclusive magazine at the Manchester Evening News (M.E.N) Arena, moments before Haye steps into the ring to defend his belt against mandatory challenger John Ruiz..

“Hayemaker Magazine has been a project I’ve been working on for the last five or six weeks now,” explains Haye, editor and creator.

“Originally, I just wanted to produce a beefed-up fight programme that I could present to fans as a homecoming gift in Manchester. I wanted to give them lots of exclusive pictures and accounts, and loads of never-before-seen access.

“That eventually snowballed into a 192-page sports magazine and a definitive look back at my career to date. I couldn’t be happier with the finished product.”

Not content with just focusing on his own life and career, Haye also found the desire to reach out and include fellow sportsmen and women in his pet project.

“I wanted the magazine to focus on my career to begin with, but then also liked the idea of focusing on other sports stars,” explains Haye.

“I know what makes me tick and why my career has been a success. I’ve always wanted to know how my sporting peers got to the top, though. I basically got in touch with all the guys I wanted to talk to and find out more about.”

In the space of a month, Haye had met up with and interviewed England football captain Rio Ferdinand, former Olympic sprint champion Linford Christie and England rugby ace Danny Cipriani, as well as fellow world champion boxers Amir Khan and Carl Froch.

“I don’t pretend to be some kind of expert or have any history of interviewing people,” adds Haye. “I’m usually the one being interviewed, after all.

“Despite that, I really enjoyed the process and loved talking to these guys. We would sit and chat for over an hour and I seemed to be able to get these stars to open up and talk about stuff they normally keep to themselves. They didn’t feel threatened by me and we could just talk as one sportsman to another.”

Haye’s interviews and photoshoots with Ferdinand, Christie, Cipriani, Khan and Froch all feature in volume one of Hayemaker Magazine, alongside additional interviews with UFC star Georges St-Pierre and leading boxing prospect George Groves.

Hayemaker Magazine also features an exclusive account of Haye’s harrowing trip to Senegal, West Africa, as well as a definitive, behind-the-scenes look at his last four professional bouts.

“I always need some kind of project to work on before a fight,” says Haye. “Anybody that knows me will tell you that I’m always looking for direction and something to take my mind off the fight ahead.

“If you stay wrapped up in the fight too much, you’ll only drive yourself crazy. I needed something like this to keep my mind working in a productive way during training camp.

“Thankfully, it’s all finished now and I hope my fans enjoy the final product as much as I do. It was really fun interviewing, writing and spreading all the features out.

“Now my full attention is on spreading John Ruiz out across the ring canvas on April 3rd.”

*** Hayemaker Magazine (limited edition) is officially released on Saturday, April 3rd and can be purchased at the M.E.N Arena or online at www.hayemakermagazine.com. Further details can also be found at http://www.hayemakermagazine.com/.

*** David Haye’s WBA world heavyweight title defence against John Ruiz takes place on Saturday, April 3rd in Manchester and will be screened live and exclusively on Sky Box Office.

Source: eastsideboxing.com

Ruiz laughs off Haye's attacks -- ESPN

ESPN.co.uk

John Ruiz laughed off David Haye's verbal onslaught before insisting that he intends to do his talking in the ring on April 3.

WBA heavyweight champion Haye, who is never shy of dishing out insults before taking on an opponent, has labelled Ruiz as "boring" and the "cure for insomnia".

Ruiz, who insists that these barbs have not affected him, is not participating in the war of words. Instead, he is concentrating on his strategy for the fight, which he feels will counter Haye's preferred approach.

"If that's the worst thing he can say about me, then I'm very shocked because people say he really likes to talk," Ruiz said. "If this is what he has to do to get motivated and get in fight mode, then he'd better do as much talking as he needs to because come Saturday, I'll be ready to do my talking in the ring.

"We know he likes to move around a lot and at times take things easy, but we want to throw him off the groove, let him know that basically he's going to have to throw enough punches to keep me away from him."

Ominously for Ruiz, Haye insists that his punches are carrying more menace than at any other time in his career. "The way I'm punching, Ruiz will have had to have improved his punch resistance tenfold to go the distance," he said.

Ricky Hatton echoes Haye's belief that the fight will not span the full 12 rounds. "Ruiz a bit on the slow side and David won't have trouble stopping him. If he can carry on like he's going, David can be a mega-star in the heavyweight division. I'd pay for a ticket to watch him," Hatton said.

"He can fly the flag for British boxing with his great personality, exciting style and his will to finish a fight early by always going for the knockout."

Source: espn.co.uk

David Haye v John Ruiz: American aims to outwork heavyweight weaknesses -- Telegraph

By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk

A stifling style has enabled the canny character to survive almost against top-class opposition, ten of whom have been world champions.

Ruiz is brazen about what he needs to implement in this fight, admitting from his training camp in Manchester that he plans to outpunch and outlast David Haye in Saturday's WBA heavyweight world title showdown at the MEN Arena.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that is his best option against Haye, who must look to stop Ruiz by the middle rounds, both for his own preservation, and to match his fistic statements with his criticisms of others in the slumbering division, notably the Klitschko brothers, who appear intent on winning 'bore' draws.

Ruiz, who has a 44-8-1 record, but has lost three of his last six contests, has been placed as a long underdog, but that must be seen in relation to his experience as both a heavyweight, and at this level.

It will be the 11th time that the American has fought for a world title - he has held the WBA crown twice - with two of those last three bouts being against Russian man-mountain Nikolai Valuev. Both of those contests, were lost, marginally, on points.

Haye, once the undisputed world cruiserweight champion, has had only three heavyweight contests.

Ruiz has also been on the wrong side of world title decisions against Ruslan Chagaev, Roy Jones Jr and Evander Holyfied, but is confident that his plan of bombarding Haye, who is 23-1, with more than 50 punches a round will pay off.

"That is the kind of pace I need to set,” Ruiz said.."If I don't set that kind of pace then I might as well pack my bags now and go home. That is my game plan, to fight him and stay on him and make sure that he is in for a long one here.”

"I'm American. They consider me the last hope, I guess. The last hope to bring a title back home. I am going to rise to that challenge. I love a challenge and I think this is a great opportunity for me.

"I am excited. I feel blessed and honoured to have had a wonderful career and still be in there. I know for sure that I have more to prove, and I think in this fight it is going to show."

David Haye v John Ruiz is live in HD on Sky Box Office on Saturday night

Source: telegraph.co.uk

HAYE'S ON THE ROAD TO RUIZ -- Mirror

By David Anderson, Mirror.co.uk

BOXING WAR OF WORDS ON EVE OF BIG FIGHT

John Ruiz has taunted David Haye, claiming: "Is boring the worst thing you can say about me?"

Ruiz had steeled himself for a barrage of abuse from WBA heavyweight king Haye after his verbal attacks on Nikolai Valuev when he dismissed the Beast from the East as a "smelly, hairy circus freak".

But the American challenger says he laughed when he heard the best insult Haye could come up with was to call him a "cure for insomnia".

The former two-time world champ sees this as a victory in the mind games between the fighters and can't wait to get in the ring with him at Manchester's MEN Arena on Saturday.

"If that's the worst thing he can say about me, then I'm very shocked because people say he really likes to talk," said Ruiz.

"If this is what he has to do to get motivated and get in fight mode, then he'd better do as much talking as he needs to because come Saturday, I'll be ready to do my talking in the ring."

Ruiz, 38, first won the WBA crown when he beat the legendary Evander Holyfield nine years ago when Haye was still an amateur.

This will be the Quiet Man's 55th fight at heavyweight and he feels Haye, who has had just three fights at this weight, has never come up against someone of his pedigree.

"This is a test for him because he's going to realise this is a heavyweight fight here against a guy who comes to fight," he said.

"He's got a fight on his hands. We know he likes to move around a lot and at times take things easy, but we want to throw him off the groove, let him know that basically he's going to have to throw enough punches to keep me away from him."

Mandatory challenger Ruiz stepped aside in November so that the Londoner could take the title from Valuev and he feels this has worked to his advantage.

He lost twice to the giant Russian and did not fancy his chances of getting a decision in Germany if they had fought a third time.

"I congratulate David for winning the title," said Ruiz, who beat Turk Adnan Serin in seven rounds on the undercard that night in Nuremberg. "It gives me an opportunity to fight someone else other than Valuev, "This time with Haye I think it's better fight for me. I know he might be a better opponent than Valuev, but trust me, this is a better fight for me."

While Haye is motivated by the desire to fight the Klitschkos, Ruiz, who is an inch shorter than the champ at 6ft 2ins, is driven by the ambition of joining an elite band of fighters who have been three-time world champs.

"I could join some of the great names," he said.

RUIZ RECORD

Wins 44 (30 by KO)

Defeats 8 (1 by KO)

Draws 1

Ko win % 56

Rounds boxed 322

Age: 38 Height: 6ft 2in

Reach: 78 inches

Born and lives in Massachusetts, USA

Haye to win with 1st round KO 12-1; Ruiz to be counted out at any time 4-7; Haye to win on points 9/4; Ruiz to win by KO 13/2; Ruiz to win on points 10/1.

Freephone: 0800 44 40 40

Source: mirror.co.uk

Williams-Cintron a go -- Augusta Chronicle

By Scott Michaux, The Augusta Chronicle

Aiken world champion boxer Paul "The Punisher" Williams will take another crack at getting in line for a welterweight title shot, this time by going through another former welterweight world champ Kermit "The Killer" Cintron.

Williams and Cintron will hold a press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday to announce a 12-round fight at super welterweight (154 pounds) on May 8 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The venue is where Williams won the WBO welterweight belt in 2007 against Antonio Margarito. The fight will be televised on HBO.

Williams and Cintron (32-2-1, 28 KOs) are no strangers to negotiations, having once planned to fight for the welterweight title in 2007 before the plan was scuttled by the Cintron camp due to injury.

Williams (38-1, 27 KOs) is coming off a majority-decision win over world junior-middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in December - a fight that was arranged after middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik backed out of a scheduled fight in Atlantic City, N.J.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the winner of Williams-Cintron could position himself for a shot at unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. - who fights welterweight champ Shane Mosely the week before in Las Vegas. If Mayweather loses, he can invoke a rematch clause against Mosely.

A less likely option would be for the Williams-Cintron winner to get a shot at Manny Pacquiao should he fail again to strike a mega-fight deal with Mayweather Jr.

Source: chronicle.augusta.com

Shades of past rivalries in Jones-Hopkins rematch -- ESPN

By Graham Houston, ESPN.com



When Bernard Hopkins meets Roy Jones Jr., it won't be the first clash of aging stars. Fights such as this one have a strange fascination.

Saturday's return bout echoes the long-delayed rematch between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns outdoors at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in June 1989.

Almost eight years after their first, epic meeting for the welterweight title in the same arena, Leonard, 33, and Hearns, 31, were squaring off in a 12-round championship bout at 168 pounds. Promoter Bob Arum billed the fight as "The War," with Leonard guaranteed $13 million, Hearns $11 million.

Hopkins, who lost the initial meeting against Jones in 1993, feels that Jones should have agreed to terms for a rematch long ago.

Back in 1989, Hearns had similar sentiments.

"I've waited eight years for a rematch," Hearns said at a news conference to announce the fight. "To me, Ray Leonard is less than a weasel to make me wait this long."

Leonard was a 4-1 on favorite in the betting.

Although neither Leonard nor Hearns was as good as they had been eight years earlier, they provided a stirring spectacle, "in many ways better than their 1981 encounter" as noted by Michael Katz in the New York Daily News.

Hearns knocked down Leonard in the third and 11th rounds and looked sure to avenge his defeat in the 1981 contest, but Leonard came blazing back to hammer and hurt the Detroit Hit Man in a dramatic 12th and final round to salvage a draw.

If Hopkins and Jones give the fans a similarly entertaining fight, everyone will be happy.

The combined age of Hopkins and Jones is 86, but two years ago, a 44-year-old Jeff Fenech and 49-year-old Azumah Nelson fought in a 10-rounder in Melbourne, Australia, 16 years after the second of their junior lightweight title bouts.

The aging rivals, now weighing in the 150-pound range, put up a spirited fight, won narrowly by Fenech.

Hopkins-Jones could be called a curiosity attraction -- but not as curious as Fenech versus Nelson.

Source: espn.go.com

A massive night for Kiwi boxing -- Yahoo! Xtra Sports

By Mike Kilpatrick, Yahoo! Xtra Sports

Yahoo!Xtra Sports will be covering the David 'Tuamanator' Tua v Friday 'The 13th' Ahunanya bout and the undercard from the Trusts Stadium in Waitakere tonight.

It's a massive opportunity for the Tuamanator to show he's worthy of another world title shot and promises to be a better contest than his fight against Shane Cameron last time around.

Here's the full rundown on the card:

Bronwyn Wylie (61.2kgs) v Christina Tai (59.5kgs)
Lightweight contest, 4 x 2 minute rounds

Thai boxer Bronwyn Wylie has experience in the martial arts ring but has only had one boxing bout - and that was against tonight's opponent Christina Tai.

Wylie won that bout after neither fighter could get a knockout in the four rounds. But that bout was in May last year and since then Tai has had another couple of fights.

She lost to Susie Ramadan in August, but then won against Michelle Preston at the end of January.

Wylie is ranked 23 in the world and her 100 per cent record will get a tough workout against the 28th ranked Tai, who has a professional record of won four, lost six.

Tip: Wylie to keep her record, just, after the four rounds.

Clarence Tillman (130.2kgs) v Leamy Tato (108.9kgs)
Heavyweight contest, 4 x 3 minute rounds

Kiwi Leamy Tato, at 5ft 10in, is dwarfed alongside the giant American Clarence Tillman at 6ft 5in.

But Taito is a MMA and Cage combatant champion and won his only previous boxing bout against Ben Naqasima in October last year.

He also represented the Junior Kiwis when he had his fights on a league field rather than a ring.

Tillman has lost three of his last five fights but beat Junior Pati by TKO in his last fight earlier this month - and Pati is ranked higher than Tato.

The Las Vegas fighter has won only three of his eight bouts, but is still ranked 249th in the world.

Tip: Tato may go the distance, but he's not going to win.

Jameson Bostic (84.4kgs) v Oscar Siale (84.2kgs)
Cruiserweight contest, 6 x 3 minute rounds

Southpaw Kiwi Oscar Siale is ranked fourth in New Zealand and won his last 10 fights until he lost to the higher ranked undefeated Samoan Vaitele Soi at the end of January.

Bostic hails from Brooklyn, New York and is ranked even higher than Soi was when he beat Siale - so it's going to be a major shock if the Kiwi can inflict Bostic's fifth defeat in 24 fights.

Bostic has fought five times in New Zealand previously and has won every time, including his last bout which was just 20 days ago against the lowly ranked Wilhelm Schwalger.

Tip: Bostic to take the win before the sixth round.

Areta Gilbert (83kgs) v Robert Berridge (79.8kgs)
Cruiserweight contest, 6 x 3 minute rounds

This all-Kiwi clash between Robert 'The Butcher' Berridge and Areta Gilbert shapes up nicely.

Berridge has gone up a couple of weights to fight Gilbert and so gives away a bit in height and weight.

The Butcher is undefeated in three fights after winning his first two via knockout. His last fight was against journeyman Faimasasa Tavui in July last year which he won by unanimous decision.

Gilbert lost his only previous fight, but that was against a much higher ranked opponent in Shane 'Chopper' Chapman, currently ranked second in New Zealand and 126th in the world.

The 22-year-old has dropped a few kilograms since that December fight and will be looking to take out his more experienced opponent.

Tip: Gilbert to take the win in a bit of a shock

Brett Smith (102.9kgs) v Isreal Garcia (118kgs)
Heavyweight contest, 8 x 3 minute rounds

Brett Smith is the original Aussie bad boy (apparently) and is facing up against David Tua's current sparring partner Isreal 'King Kong' Garcia.

Smith's record isn't the best, with 13 wins in 21 fights and has lost four of his last six fights.

He did win last time out against the lower ranked Brian Fitzgerald earlier this month, but that first round TKO was his first fight in over two years.

Garcia has been punished by Tua in their sparring sessions and boxed for 12 rounds against the Tuaminator, the man who punches harder than anyone else, he says.

King Kong has lost his last two fights, being TKO'd in the second round last time and losing in the third the time before that. But those fights were against boxers in the top 20 in the world and therefore no disgrace.

Tip: Garcia's Kiwi connection will have the home crowd cheering him and he'll take the win by points.

David Tua (108.7kgs) v Friday Ahunanya (104.1)
Heavyweight contest, 12 x 3 minute rounds
Referee: Garry Dean
Winner takes the WBO Asia Pacific heavyweight title and the WBO Oriental heavyweight title

This is a massive fight for David Tua. The Tuamanator destroyed Shane Cameron last time out and will want another big fight to push for another world title shot.

The revelation that the WBO are keeping a very close eye on this fight with a view to a possible world title fight in New Zealand will surely motivate Tua even more.

Tua has had more first round knockouts than any boxer, barring Mike Tyson, and his 50 wins, three losses and one draw in 54 fights is an impressive record.

Friday 'The 13th' Ahunanya has a record of 24 wins, five losses and three draws in his 32 fights and has won four out of his last five.

His last fight, against Alonzo Butler in 2008, went the distance and if Ahunanya has any hope of making more of his career he needs a massive win tonight.

Tip: But it's not going to happen. Tua has too much to lose and will win before the eighth round by TKO.

So what are your picks for tonights card? Leave your comment and you can prove you know much more about boxing than me!

And remember, check back in after 7pm for live coverage from the Trusts Stadium.

Source: nz.sports.yahoo.com

Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield And...John Ruiz? -- The Sweet Science

By Ron Borges, The Sweet Science

The great fear in heavyweight boxing is that David Haye turns out to not be what people hope he is. Or, putting the boxing boot on the other foot, that two-time WBA champion John Ruiz does turn out to be what they fear he is.

No one fears the 38-year-old former champion in the way they feared Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield. Not like they did an aging and well-faded but still dangerous Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali. They don’t so much fear what he can do to an opponent as they fear what he can make an opponent do to himself. While that is a form of fear, it’s not a terribly marketable form of it.

Stylistically awkward, tougher to negotiate than 20 miles of detours and armed with a chin that refuses to turn on him (or turn his lights out), Ruiz is what heavyweight boxing doesn’t need at the moment. He’s a problem.

Through various maneuverings, legal threats and sheer perseverance, Ruiz has survived nearly 20 years as a professional prize fighter and Saturday will try to use all he has learned while wending his way to two tours as WBA champion to undress, frustrate and ultimately defeat the young British champion David Haye, who is everything Ruiz is not.

Ruiz’s nickname is “The Quiet Man.’’ The bellicose David Haye will never be called “The Quiet Man.’’ He is not a big puncher. Haye has 19 KOs among his 22 victories. He is not a particularly striking physical specimen. Haye looks like Holyfield on steroids. (Aside: Is that an oxymoron? Just asking.)

But for all that Ruiz is not there are several things he is and that is why HBO never wanted to stage a heavyweight tournament while he was a belt holder and why everyone with a stake in heavyweight boxing is petrified about what could happen Saturday night at MEN Arena in Manchester, England.

Ruiz is dogged. He is also tough in an old-fashioned way. He is willing to absorb punishment to wear you down. He is, according to Holyfield, far stronger than outsiders understand and punches harder than you might imagine. Hasim Rahman found that out with one body shot and refused to let his hands go the rest of the night, losing a fight the world concluded he would easily win.

Incredibly, he’s also one victory away from joining Ali and Holyfield as three-time heavyweight champions. Did you ever think there would be a reason to put those three names in the same sentence when the subject was heavyweight boxing champions?

The latter is a measure of Haye’s problem. Ruiz will not go quietly into that good night of fistic retirement. No one can quite believe he’s still around but the fact is he’s had more heavyweight title fights than Jack Dempsey or Rocky Marciano, has not been close to being stopped since the night David Tua caught him with an unexpected punch seconds into their match and laid him low and has learned both how to avoid taking dangerous risks while wearing down an opponent until he becomes mentally sapped and simply concedes winning isn’t worth the trouble.

Truth be told, that short night with Tua was the spawning ground for the stab-and-grab style that made Ruiz a two-time champion but also the enemy of fight fans and cable television executives because of its unpleasant viewing experience. Yet for all his stylistic disappointments, Ruiz fights in the way that works for him and most of the time he imposes that style on his opponents, forcing them to engage in a wrestling match most of them can’t win rather than a boxing match he can’t win. That is a skill in itself, although neither a pleasing one nor one that is much appreciated these days.

Case in point was that Ruiz could easily have been given the victory against Nikolai Valuev to make him a three-time champion when they squared off in Germany several years ago because while he didn’t do a lot he did more than the giant from Russian. That night the highly partisan German crowd in Berlin booed the announcement that Valuev had been given that decision and rightfully so. Ruiz won the fight. He just didn’t get the win.

None of that means he can beat Haye, who is younger, faster of hand and foot, more powerful and cocksure of himself. Many boxing experts, including the great trainer Freddie Roach, are urging him to come out and attack Ruiz from the opening bell, looking to stun him early and take him out in the kind of spectacular way that would create a big-money unification fight with one of the Klitschko brothers.

The Klitschkos presently hold three of the four major belts, with Haye having snared the WBA title from Valuev in a lackluster performance in which he was unexpectedly docile but he is still widely seen as the man most likely to pump life back into the long dormant heavyweight division.

He failed to do it against Valuev, staying on the outside and landing his jab and then tying up the bigger but ponderously slower Valuev in a safety first approach Ruiz would have been proud to call his own because it tied Valuev in knots while also tying a title belt around Haye’s waist, which in the end is still the first goal of boxing.

But if Haye tries a similar approach against Ruiz he will be booed out of the arena and may find himself enveloped in a cocoon of horror, as Peter McNeely might put it. Then again, attack Ruiz too wildly and he may get countered the way Holyfield did when Ruiz dropped him for one of the few times in Holyfield’s career or the way he stunned Rahman and Kirk Johnson, basically convincing both it was easier to submit and quit fighting than risk repeating the pain of what they’d felt.

If Ruiz’s hand is raised it is not 100 per cent sure than even his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, will be thrilled about it because De La Hoya, in the best tradition of Don King, also has the American promotional rights to Haye. You don’t have to be P.T. Barnum to know which of the two is more promotable.

In a sense, De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions wins no matter which fighter does but it wins big if Haye looks spectacular. It wins control of the WBA title if Ruiz wins but what then? The Klitschkos want no part of the problems he represents, they being more interested in risk reward ratios than most insurance companies. That is especially true of young Wladimir, who is easily daunted by someone who would fight him like a heavy drapery, as Ruiz would.

So while there are many things to be unsure of about Saturday night’s Haye-Ruiz heavyweight duel one thing is as clear as a bell. If when the last one sounds they raise the hand of John Ruiz and name him heavyweight champion for the third time a lot of people in boxing will have seen their worst fears materialize…for the third time.

Source: thesweetscience.com

DAVID HAYE WON'T LET DREAM GO -- Daily Star

By Kevin Francis, DailyStar.co.uk

DAVID Haye aims to keep on living the dream when he makes the first defence of his WBA world heavyweight title on Saturday.

‘The Hayemaker’ meets American John Ruiz at Manchester’s MEN Arena – and he has no intention of relinquishing the title he always knew he would win.

He said: “I told everybody since I was a kid that I would become world ­heavyweight champion.

“When you have a dream like that, you go for it, and once you achieve that dream there is no way that you want to let it go.”

Haye knows that Ruiz will present a vastly different kind of ­proposition than giant Russian Nikolai Valuev, the man from whom he gained the title in ­November.

And he said: “In that fight the fear was a 23st, 7ft 2in Russian freak and now the fear is losing to Ruiz.

“But that won’t happen. I have got to get my head straight and cannot underestimate John Ruiz. I have got to be on my game.”

The 29-year-old certainly looks in tremendous shape and he said: “I need to be, too. Ruiz has great ­experience of the ­heavyweight division.

“He knocked down ­Holyfield, who was never knocked down in 24 rounds with Lennox Lewis and 14 rounds with Mike Tyson.

“I have seen him try to break people’s arms and he is a rough ­character.

“He has only been stopped once in 50-odd fights and that was early in his career.

A full house is expected and Haye said: “People in Manchester appreciate good boxing.

“It is a treat for them to have the world heavyweight champion.”

The Haye-Ruiz fight will be screened live in HD by Sky Box Office on Saturday night.

Source: dailystar.co.uk

David’s dodge to see Lennox -- The Sun

By PAT SHEEHAN, The Sun

TEN years after gatecrashing the London Arena to see Lennox Lewis retain the world heavyweight title, David Haye is the main attraction.

Haye, now 29, will be tracked by spotlights as he walks to the ring to defend his WBA title against Johnny Ruiz in front of a sell-out crowd at Manchester's MEN Arena on Saturday.

But things were different when he and some mates got into the now-defunct London venue to watch Lewis destroy Frans Botha in two rounds.

Haye said: "One of my pals paid for a ticket. He went in and opened a fire exit so we could all bundle in although a security guard was trying hard to stop us.

"We all ran round him and disappeared into the crowd before meeting up by ringside where I did a bit more blagging. I sat there just feet from the apron, a £500 ticket for nothing.

"We got there as Lennox was coming to the ring. He was a massive idol of mine. To watch him despatch Frans Botha like that was brilliant.

"Back then I would never have thought in a million years I would be the next Briton defending the heavyweight title over here. I feel proud about it.

"Botha was known as a tough guy and a durable opponent, similar to Ruiz, who always gave people a really hard night's work.

"I'd love to put on the same sort of performance as Lennox did that night and blast him out of there in a couple of rounds.

"I'm not sure Ruiz is as easy to blast out as all that. Adam Booth my trainer has made sure I can go 12 hard rounds if need be.

"But the way I'm punching, Ruiz will have had to have improved his punch resistance 10-fold to go the distance."

Bookies have Haye as favourite but he is taking no notice of the odds.

He said: "In the heavyweight division, one punch can settle it all. You can come unstuck if you don't prepare right.

"Lennox overlooked Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall and look what happened."

Lewis retired in 2003 after stopping Vitali Klitschko. The giant Ukrainian is now WBC champion and in Haye's sights as he dreams of unifying the world heavyweight title.

Source: thesun.co.uk