David Haye fight Audley Harrison with Klitschkos

World Boxing Association David Haye heavyweight champion but the Londoner’s career has hit a cul-de-sac in current months.

Yesterday, it thumped into a brick wall when the Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, both heavyweight champions, lined up alternative opponents for the autumn.
The prospect of Haye versus Audley Harrison, waiting in the wings yet with an air of pantomime about it, grows ever more probably. The fight itself is not to much, which Haye ought to win resoundingly, but the groans that will accompany its announcement. Harrison has flattered to deceive for a decade since he won the Olympic super heavyweight gold medal in Sydney.
It is not so much that Harrison is on borrowed time. That ran out long ago. With former world champion Shannon Briggs, of Brownsville, New York, claiming on Thursday that he has signed to take on the World Boxing Council belt holder, Vitali, in October, the Klitschkos revealed that the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organisation champion, Wladimir, will meet Samuel Peter in a rematch on September 11.
It leaves Haye frozen out, having not fought since his second WBA title defence in April against the American John Ruiz, who promoter Bob Arum told me currently has become “a pay-not-to-view” fighter.
It leaves Haye with the prospect of fighting Harrison, the European champion, former cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek would represent a credible alternative.
If Juan Manuel Marquez retains the World Boxing Organisation lightweight title by beating Juan Diaz in their rematch of the 2009 fight of the year tonight in Las Vegas, he is probably to will step up to light welterweight to meet Amir Khan, the World Boxing Association champion on December 11. Khan will be ringside at the fight.
However, Marquez said yesterday that he is also pursuing a third fight with Manny Pacquiao. So far, it is one draw, and one win to Pacquiao.

David Haye must think about himself before taking on Klitschkos. Tyson

Mike Tyson says that David Haye should think about himself in the heavyweight division before taking on the Klitschkos.

Tyson, one of the most famous heavyweights in boxing history, told Sky Sports that current WBA champion Haye needs more experience before at attractive to unify the titles.

"He's good, he's a good fighter," said the 45-year-old. "He has to make himself as a champion.


"He has to establish himself and then fight the Klitschkos."

"I don't have anything in the future that I want - I just want to raise my kids and pay my bills," he added.

"Why would I want to be a manager or promoter? They only steal your money, at least that's my experience, and why would I want to do that?

"I'm not interested in getting back in the ring, not at all. I'm pretty much a pacifist as much as anything now.

"As long my kids respect me and call me 'Dad' and not by my first name, I'm happy."

TO STEP IT UP TIME FOR DAVID HAYE

Here is an article I read in the Sun yesterday and it made me really wonder what the hell is Haye doing? He’s ran his mouth about the Klitschkos and it’s surely time to step it up everybody is calling for it. Wladimir Klitschko has already scheduled a fight in September with Alexander Povetkin so there’s only Vitali for Haye to fight. What happens if that fight falls through? In my opinion there is nobody that he will be respected for fighting other than these two guys. Another point I picked up on from Maloney’s article is that David seems to be staying out of the spotlight a lot considering he is usually such a publicity guy who loves all the attention. Could this possibly be a publicity stunt to build publicity? If so then I fear he could be loosing respect from fans as the days go by. It’s almost been 4 months since Haye beat Ruiz and we have heard absolutely nothing except from rumors about who Haye is going to be facing next. So the questions I would like to ask are…Has anyone heard the latest from the man himself?What next for Haye if Vitali chooses another opponent?How do you feel Haye will cope against Vitali if a fight is scheduled?And finally, what do you feel Haye is doing by taking himself out of the spotlight?

TIME FOR DAVID HAYE TO STEP IT UPWHAT NEXT? ...

Frank Maloney fears David Haye could be left in limboFRANK MALONEY fears David Haye could damage his career if he does not step up his fight schedule. Haye, 29, won the WBA heavyweight title last November but has defended it just once since ripping it from Nikolai Valuev's grasp. He looked impressive against John Ruiz in April and appeared to be on collision course with the Klitschko brothers. However, talks with Wladimir Klitschko stalled and fellow Brit Audley Harrison could now face the Hayemaker instead in November. Haye does not believe his fellow Londoner deserves a title shot but Maloney is worried the man he promoted during his cruiserweight days could be left in the cold if he does not take the fight. Maloney said: "If I was still representing David, being a young fighter I would have cashed in a bit quicker and made him busier. "He's a breath of fresh air for the heavyweight division and the media like him. "But sometimes when you stay out of sight you get forgotten a bit. "You can't fault what he's done. No one expected him to win the world heavyweight title and he's made one defence. "Three fights a year is good for a heavyweight. That's what we aimed for with Lennox Lewis. "But it's also about staying in the public eye. If I was David I'd be banging the drum and making sure I was in the papers for the right reasons. "I'm not saying he's lazy but a champion has to be visible and talk up the sport."

David Haye: Nowhere to turn

Well they talked the talk but the walk was surely lacking.
Despite Wladimir Klitschko’s ominous warning on YouTube and threats to turn David Haye’s face into a pizza, and “The Hayemaker’s” selection of disparaging T-shirts, “Dr Steelhammer” has chosen Alexander Povetkin as his next opponent.

The recent trend in boxing is clearly top fighters avoiding each other. It must be vogue for them to ignore one another and act like they don’t exist, which somehow enforces their own self belief that there is no one out there who can challenge them. In fact rumour has it that Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather were at Miguel Cotto’s birthday party the other weekend and ruined a game of pass the parcel with their cold shouldering.
Clearly the fans don’t matter anymore, the competition of the sport doesn’t matter anymore and fighters don’t care about their legacies anymore. Oh no, wait, here comes Audley Harrison. Haye v Harrison - fantastic, that’s the world-championship bout we have been waiting for.
You have to wonder if it’s worth having all these belts flying around, because all it does is prevent the fights people want to look happening. One champion in one division would be the way forward; it’s not going to happen though.
The reasons are unclear why the Haye Klitschko fight hasn’t happened. Did Haye wanted too big a split of the purse? The Klitschko’s are notorious in their stern contract negotiations, but perhaps The Hayemaker should have just relented this one time. All parties seemed keen so we have been denied by administration once more.
Haye has to realise that he is the new kid on the block. The Klitschkos have been round for a long time, regardless of the quality of the opponents that they have fought and so Haye needs to compromise if he wants to achieve his dream of unifying the division.
If they are demanding a 40-60 split or whatever, take it, beat them, and then demand the reverse for a rematch or the other brother. Right now it’s about proving that Haye is the best in the division and so he should settle for now and demand later.
It doesn’t look good after the collapse of their scheduled fight a year ago, which may have been due in part to the folding of Setanta Sports, who Haye was contracted to and thus wouldn’t have got paid much. It’s understandable that you would want maximum coin for challenging one of these Ukrainian juggernauts, but The Hayemaker needs to be more accommodating in his negotiations if he genuinely wants to unify the division.
Haye has the charisma, showmanship and style to actually shake up this awful, turgid division that is the heavyweights, so it’s massively disappointing to see this sort of thing happening. Potentially he could be a global star, but in many people’s eyes he’s going to be seen as someone who ducks fights. Obviously it takes two to make a fight happen and perhaps the blame belongs with the Klitschkos, but as the new boy it’s the Londoner who will get the fingers pointed at him.
It’s a huge shame boxing is going like this what with the Mayweather and Pacquiao farce as well, all this bravado and no substance, it gets boring. As a sport it’s losing out quite a bit to MMA and these big fights capture people’s attention and bring back the casual fan. Instead we are left with one-sided matches.
To be fair Klitschko v Povetkin could be a decent bout for keen boxing fans. Poor old Povetkin, at least Haye wandered in and got a title shot relatively fast. Povetkin’s been waiting two whole years for it, he’s unbeaten and a worthy contender, but I think most people would rather look Haye fight.
With Vitali busy with Nicolay Valuev, it leaves Haye with basically a choice between Ruslan Chagaev, Evander Holyfield or Thomas Adamek. The only one of them worth watching would be Adamek but then you’ve basically got two cruiserweights fighting at heavy, which seems a bit wrong, but it would be an entertaining blend of styles.
It’ll be Harrison though. What a sorry state of affairs.