He is only fighting one of them, but outside of the ring it’s David Haye versus both Klitschko brothers.
The trash-talking Englishman faces 35-year-old Wladimir Klitschko tonight in a heavyweight superfight with four titles at stake.
If Haye wins, there is a narrow chance he could line up one last fight with Wladimir’s elder brother, Vitali, before retiring from boxing by the time of his 31st birthday on Oct. 13. Vitali is the WBC champion, the only belt that tonight’s combatants do not have.
Photo: AFP
“Without a doubt, I’m confident I’ll fight Vitali in September or October,” Haye told the Press Association. “Once I’ve smashed Wladimir, I’m pretty sure his big brother is going to try to step up to the plate to take revenge.”
In the lead-up to the showdown in Hamburg, both Klitschkos have been trading taunts with Haye — a losing battle for the Ukrainians, Vitali says.
“David Haye: great fighter. But he’s an unbeatable talker. He talks so much, he’s a trash-talker. He’s world champion by trash-talking,” Vitali said on Wednesday.
Haye has stopped at nothing in his attempts to rattle the Klitschkos, wearing a T-shirt showing a rendition of their severed heads. He has promised to send Wladimir to the hospital and stubbornly refuses to shake his hand. He has called the Klitschkos frauds and introduced a game app for -smartphones where users playing Haye must try to knock the head off a giant eastern European.
“You are going to see the most brutal execution of a boxer, I will absolutely destroy him,” Haye boasted at the pre-match news conference.
Wladimir has somewhat reluctantly been drawn into the war of words. He refers to Haye as “No. 50,” a reference to his career 49 knockouts, and promises to shut him up at Hamburg’s Imtech Arena tonight.
The fight is widely seen as the most high-profile heavyweight battle since Vitali Klitschko lost to Lennox Lewis in 2003. For the younger Klitschko, the IBF, WBO and IBO champion, it represents a chance to silence critics who say he has not really been tested during an unbeaten run stretching back seven years.
Haye’s blistering speed and explosive power is likely to present the biggest challenge Klitschko has faced since rebuilding his career following knockout defeats to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster, in 2003 and 2004.
The counterpunching Briton must rely on combinations and fast footwork to avoid Klitschko’s right hand and getting into energy-draining clinches with the 7.6cm taller Ukrainian.
For Haye, the Klitschko fight is also a defining moment of his career. A former cruiserweight boxer with a 25-1 record (23 KOs), he claimed the WBA belt in 2009 by defeating 2.18m Russian fighter Nikolai Valuev, but until now he has not followed through on his repeated vows to take the belts off the Klitschkos.
A potential fight against Vitali at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge arena was scrapped, and Haye pulled out of a fight last year with Wladimir, citing a back injury.
Haye has said he is ready to take on Vitali if the match can be arranged before his retirement. That is unlikely unless Vitali gets out of a fight with Poland’s Tomasz Adamek in September.
Asked about the prospects he would face Haye instead, the elder Klitschko said the Briton’s career would be over before then.
“He’s not retiring on Oct. 13,” he said. “Wladimir will send him into retirement.”
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