Vladimir Klitschko will lay his IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles on the line against British challenger David Haye for the WBC crown on June 20 at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge ground, German daily Bild reported on Wednesday.
The “Hayemaker,” 28 and the former cruiserweight champion, will fight Klitschko after the Ukrainian and his elder brother Vitali said they tossed a coin for which of the pair should meet the Briton.
“For the first time there was a little set-to between us brothers,” Vitali Klitschko said. “Our manager Bernd Boente came in and wanted to settle things. He found a solution — tossing a coin in the air and Vladimir won.”
PHOTO: AFP
Haye had last month intimated he would in fact face Vitali Klitschko, back in the ring after four years away and who took the WBC crown in beating Nigerian Samuel Peter on a technical knockout on Oct. 11.
Vladimir Klitschko, 32 and nicknamed “Dr Steel Hammer,” is believed to be the top heavyweight boxer still in action and can boast 52 wins in 55 bouts, his last success as recent as Dec. 13, when the referee stopped American Hasim Rahman’s punishment in the seventh.
In his heavyweight bow Haye defeated American Monte Barrett in November and has 21 wins inside the limit in 22 fights, for one defeat.
Haye has spiced up the impending contest with Vladimir Klitschko having recently posed in a British magazine in a mocked up picture which showed him holding his rival’s severed head.
“Haye has threatened and dishonored the Klitschko family honor and he will be punished,” vowed Vladimir Klitschko, who will first fight Cuban Juan Carlos Gomez on March 21 in Stuttgart, Germany.
“It was my head Haye was holding — so it’s my fight,” Vladimir Klitschko said.
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