David Haye wins WBA heavyweight title

David Haye landed the WBA heavyweight title with victory over Nikolai Valuev and then set his sights on the Klitschko brothers as part of his quest to dominate the division.
From London scored the 29 year old a majority decision verdict after taking the 2.13m tall, 143kg Russian giant the full twelve round distance, using his superior speed to stay away from his opponent's close range punches.
Haye must now face John Ruiz of the United States in a mandatory defence, but says he will then seek out either IBF and WBO champion Wladimir Klitscko or his brother Vitali, the WBC champion.
"Anyone who has a belt is in my sights now - definitely the Klitschkos," said Haye, who had secured fights with both Ukrainian brothers last summer only for the match ups to fall through.
"The Klitschkos tried to lock me down in a crazy contract. I am free now to fight who I want to."
Haye revealed he had damaged his right hand early in Saturday's fight and was shocked at how hard Valuev's head was to punch.
"I damaged my right early in the fight, I think it was the second round, he has a very hard head, it was like punching a brick wall," said Haye.
"I have hit heavy bags before in the gym, but I knew I had broken my hand straight away."
Haye, Britain's first heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis's retirement in 2003, said it was an incredible feeling to have won.
"It's a bit surreal to be honest. When you strive for something your whole life, what do you do?" he said.
"Some people said I was crazy to fight this guy, but I proved the Hayemaker can turn it on when he wants to.
"I think I can clean up in this division and there is plenty more to come."
Having branded Valuev "a circus freak" before the fight, Haye said he had proved his value as a showman by backing up his brash claims.
"I say what the fight fans want to hear, I talk big and then I produce the goods," he said.
"I said I would make him look silly, I said he wouldn't hit me and that is what I did, I have beaten the biggest and tallest champion of all time."
Haye insisted his speed and athleticism was the key to the shock upset in just his third heavyweight fight as he inflicted only the second defeat of Valuev's career.
"The key was speed," insisted the new world champion. "People don't realise I am very fast, I have powerful punches.
"It was my speed and power. I am an athlete and if I wasn't boxing I would be playing football or rugby.
"Being a good athlete means you can put on good performances like that. My athleticism made the difference."
Valuev, 36, admitted he was shocked by Haye's performance.
"From my point of view, the main thing which went wrong today was the pace," said the Russian.
"It was like a marathon for me and I wasn't prepared to run so much like you would in a world championships."
Haye said he sees few problems against Ruiz, a former WBA champion.
"I don't think he is the most entertaining. He has won the world title before and you don't do that by being a bad fighter," said Haye.
"I will be way too fast, I will knock him out."

'I'm not looking forward to all that matted body hair and sweat', David Haye

David Haye has wanted to become world heavyweight boxing champion since he was seven years old, living in an 18th floor council flat in Bermondsey, south east London. A week tomorrow in Nuremberg, south-east Germany, he finally gets a shot at a version of the title. Standing squarely between the 29 year old and the realisation of his long cherished ambition, however, will be the WBA champion, Russian giant Nikolai Valuev, 7ft 2in and 23st of solid, hairy and, according to Haye, not particularly sweet-smelling flesh.
I last interviewed Haye six months ago, when he was due to fight the 6ft 7in Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF, WBO and IBO champion. He had just caused a stir by wearing a T-shirt depicting him triumphantly holding up the severed heads of Wladimir and Wladimir's brother Vitali, the WBC champ. The fight didn't happen because "The Hayemaker" strained his back, so this time, looking anew for headline fodder, he has loudly raised the issue of Valuev's body odour. "All that matted hair and sweat," he says, disdainfully. "People who've fought him before have noticed it, so I'm not looking forward to that too much." He is making rather a habit of offending big blokes from the former Soviet Union.
Haye, a comparatively petit fellow of 6ft 3in and 16st, who was undisputed world cruiserweight champion until he stepped up to heavyweight, has also described Valuev as a "monster" and a "freak show" of a human being. But of course there is method in his manners. "I do and say whatever I can to get under their skin," he says. "The more angry they are on the night, the less they think about their technique." It was a tactic similarly adopted by one of his heroes, Muhammad Ali. Joe Frazier and George Foreman were properly riled by Ali's often boorish taunts and insults which, in the Thriller in Manila and the Rumble in the Jungle, he duly backed up with his fists. Boorishness is all very well, but you have to win. What if Haye fails to win?
"It's not an option," he says. "I know that if I bob when I should weave, duck when I should dive, he'll take me out, so it needs to be a punch-perfect performance. But I know what it's like to lose, and I've vowed never to lose again. I can't allow anything I do to result in a loss. If necessary I'll fight like a dog to beat this guy."
Haye leans forward in his chair, in the Riverside Plaza, a smart London hotel close to his Vauxhall gym, and drops his voice slightly, as if to emphasise the significance of what he is saying.
"There are different ways to victory," he adds, "and if one strategy doesn't work then it will be a case of, 'What's the next strategy?' He's very effective at what he does. He's lost one in 52, he's beat some respected fighters, and they all said he was better than they expected. There are certain people you can't knock out with one shot and he's one of them, but everybody's got a weak point. I know it's not his head, but I'll find it. I will hit him more often than he's ever been hit before. I will work his body, his arms, his neck, anything available. And I will make him look stupid by missing a lot. I will dishearten him. Don't forget he's got no amateur pedigree to feed off. I learnt my craft as an international amateur, and that will help me beat him."
It is a stirring statement of intent, and to be sure, there's much more to heavyweight boxing than size and strength, but all the same, Valuev will enjoy a massive 10-inch superiority in reach. The fight is cutely billed as David v Goliath, but Haye's biblical namesake had a slingshot. And if Valuev does land one of his thunderous right hands, will the Haye chin stand up to it? That is the big question mark the Londoner carries into the ring. He has lost only once in 23 fights, and all but one of those 22 wins have been knockouts. Nobody doubts his own punching power. But can he take a punch?
"I think I can. I was knocked down a few times in the cruiserweight division, but always by someone smaller. You see it in boxing time and again. Manny Pacquiao got knocked out at flyweight, but Ricky Hatton couldn't hurt him [at light welterweight]. The shots that hurt you are the shots you don't see, and the lighter the other guy the faster his shots are. When you see it coming you brace it, block it, ride it, parry it, and those options are increased against heavyweights."
Capitalising on an opponent's weight is a strategy recommended by his father Deron, a panel beater by trade but also a martial arts instructor. And Deron's guidance extended to other, more important aspects of life. "He was the best kind of male role model," says Haye. "He was clean-living, always came straight home after work, very athletic. A lot of kids follow what their old man does, and with him it was all about health and fitness. There were people in my class at school who ended up banged up, shot, killed even. My parents led me away from that side of things, and so did boxing. I wasn't smoking weed or drinking, because it would have hurt my boxing."
He was only two or three, he adds, when his father recognised a precocious ability to throw a punch. "My dad used to say to his pals, 'Let my son punch your hand', and they couldn't believe my power. I've always had a freakish gift of being able to whack things." And people, of course, which came in handy when he was 11 and in his first year at secondary school. "The hardest kid in the school was this lad called Danny Robinson, a few years older than me. He tried to give me some grief and I bashed him up. Then he came over to me in the football cage later that same day, with a couple of his mates, and I did him again." A chuckle. "I saw him again a few years ago and we had a laugh about it."
Still, decking Danny Robinson in the football cage is one thing, decking Nikolai Valuev in the Nuremberg Arena quite another. How carefully has he studied footage of Valuev's 52 fights? "I've looked at some of them, of course. But it's a mistake, and one I've made in the past, to try to figure a fighter out by watching someone else fight him. It's like watching a football team. They do different things when they play your team. I've learnt a lot from watching tapes of Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather, and especially Roy Jones Jnr in his prime. He's the biggest inspiration to me, him and Lennox Lewis. Everyone has his own style, but nobody ever fights the same fight twice and Roy Jones was a master at those subtle adjustments, the pivoting of the feet, the head movement..."
As he says, though, that was Jones in his prime. At 40 the once great Floridian is still scrapping on, a shadow of his former self, and Haye abhors the spectacle of a boxer undermining his own legacy. "He could have retired as one of the all-time greats. He would have been in my top three of all time, no question. He went up to heavyweight and beat John Ruiz convincingly, but then he dropped back down to light heavyweight, got knocked out, Calzaghe beat him, and I just don't understand the motivation for carrying on. You've secured your legacy, you've got enough dough, why carry on?"
It is the perplexing, perennial boxing question, and Haye is determined that nobody will ever ask it of him. He says it was his intention even as a boy not to fight beyond the age of 30, and before he turns 31 in October 2011, he will honour his pledge to himself by quitting, as undefeated world heavyweight champion with two or three successful defences to his name, to be followed by a glittering career as a promoter if all goes perfectly to plan. On the other hand, no sport makes a mockery of plans quite like boxing does, and Haye is bright enough to know it, even if he won't admit it.
Can he honestly not envisage, eight or nine months from now, fancying one more pay day? "No," he says flatly. "I'm not a big spender, and anyway, how much money can one person spend? I've got a few cars. There's nothing I want to buy that I haven't got already."
I noticed one of his cars, a sporty Mercedes with a personalised number plate, when I arrived at the Riverside Plaza. In truth, it was hard not to notice, for it was parked somewhat ostentatiously across the entrance. And therein, perhaps, lies the contradictory essence of David Haye. He likes the expensive trappings of sporting success, and likes to show them off, but he doesn't crave any more of them and lives fairly modestly, in Brixton. He wants nothing more than to be heavyweight champion of the world, but he's happy for his reign to be brief. He is a smart, engaging, witty charmer, who can also descend to the level of the playground, as with his "you're ugly, you stink" insults. And he is keenly aware of his own eloquence, yet content in his own company.
This time next week, he tells me, solitude will be key to his preparation. "I try not to talk to many people before a fight because everyone wants to give you an opinion," he says. "I'll send and receive a few texts, but you get silly advice, like 'use your jab'. Oh yeah, I wasn't going to do that, thanks for telling me. Then I'll wake up on the day a bit earlier than usual, because of the adrenalin, and I'll think immediately, 'I'm going to have a tear-up tonight'. It's a strange feeling, because all those niggles and aches you've had, they all seem to disappear on the day. And then I'll just stay as relaxed as possible. I'll listen to Al Green, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, that sort of thing, and use as little mental and physical energy as possible. I'll save all the fast-twitch stuff for the last hour or two."
And what does he expect to dream about the night before the fight? What, indeed, did he dream about last night? "I dreamt about this big, massive, hairy body on the floor, and me standing over it." Funny, I had a feeling he might say that.

'another idiot', Champion Valuev brands Haye

World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev has shrugged off David Haye's latest promotional stunt and dismissed the Briton as just "another idiot".

Outspoken Haye, 29, took part in a farcical press conference last week which saw a man turn up dressed in a Halloween outfit seeming pretending to be Valuev.
After goading rival world heavyweight champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko earlier this year with a graphic t-shirt depicting one of the brothers' severed head, Haye has attempted to wind the Russian giant up by constantly mocking his size and personal hygiene.
Valuev, however, remains distinctly unimpressed and -- ahead of their clash in Nuremberg, Germany on November 7 -- he told reporters: "I don't really care about what he says or does.

"I cannot take him seriously. When I first heard about the t-shirts where he chopped the Klitschkos heads, I thought 'Oh my God, another idiot in our world'.
"He can say whatever he likes -- it will not get him my title."
Valuev -- who has never been floored, let alone knocked out -- added: "Everything has been going very well thus far. I will be in perfect shape on November 7.
"Let's just see what Haye has to say after our meeting in the ring, I doubt it will be much."

David Haye's T-shirt stunt puts him on Nikolai Valuev's radar

Haye, who challenges Valuev, at 7ft and 23 stone the tallest, heaviest heavyweight champion in history, for the World Boxing Association crown on Nov 7 in Nuremberg, had been due to face firstly Wladimir, and then Vitali Klitschko, both holders of world titles with other sanctioning bodies. Haye came to Valuev's attention when he came to a press conference with Wladimir wearing the T-shirt.
"I remember it, and I thought here we go, another idiot in boxing," said Valuev yesterday. "I don't care what he says about me. Mind games don't interest me. I want David Haye to do his talking in the ring. I am expecting a tough fight."

Valuev, who also fought in London several times, under management of British promoter Frank Maloney, said he had "fallen in love with the beauty of London, its old, historical buildings".
He added: "I could lose myself in London. In fact, when I was fighting in Battersea one night, I was so busy taking in the sights, I nearly missed my fight. I had a phone call saying 'Where are you? You are due to fight in a couple of hours ' I was sightseeing. But I nearly missed my fight."

John Ruiz to speak on Latino boxing Thursday

John Ruiz, the first world heavyweight boxing champion of Hispanic heritage, speaks on Latino boxing at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center as part of KU’s Hispanic Heritage Month activities.
Ruiz will discuss his Puerto Rican heritage and a boxing career that included a victory against Evander Holyfield in the World Boxing Association heavyweight title bout. Ruiz is now ranked No. 2 by the WBA and is the mandatory challenger for the winner of the Nikolai Valuev David Haye title fight in November in Germany.
Robert Rodriguez, associate director of McNair Scholars Program and lecturer in Latin American studies at KU, and boxing author George Kimball, a Kansas alumnus, also will be a part of the program.
After the lectures, Ruiz will be available to pose for photographs and sign autographs. Rodriguez and Kimball will hold a book signing.
Ruiz authored “Regulation of Boxing: A History and Comparative Analysis of Policies Among American States.”
Kimball is the author of “Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing.”

what now for (Fr) Audley, so?

Last nights Prizefighter showed Audley at his best, and his worst. He looked reasonable in the first fight, looked bad in the second, and utterly useless in the first round of the third, before waking up to flatten his opponent!Seriously, why can't Audley fight like this all the time, he's got the tools and he took some pretty flush shots so he's got a chin of sorts. The booing from the crowd showed that as far as the public are concerned he's rapidly losing whatever support he had, so C'mon Audley, stand up and be counted before it's all over!

I'm no slave to Vitali Klitschko, David Haye

David Haye has told Vitali Klitschko to treat him with respect if they are ever going to meet in the ring.
Wbc king Klitschko is seeking his next fight following Saturday's one sided win over Chris Arreola.
Haye pulled out of negotiations with Klitschko to agree a November 7 date with WBA heavyweight king Nikolai Valuev.
"My fight against Vitali, or Wladimir, will happen," said Haye. "But it's going to be a merger fight instead of me having to fight him as a slave fighter.
"I can go to the table as a world champion.
"The next time they deal with me, they have to deal with me with a bit of respect."

Lennox Lewis: David Haye he must 'dance' round

Former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis has told David Haye that he must use his speed "and dance" if he is to frustration Nikolai Valuev for the World Boxing Association belt in Nuremberg on Nov 14.

The British heavyweight challenger Haye, who has moved up to heavyweight after holding three of the cruiserweight world title belts, came face-to-chest at a news conference with the 7ft giant Russian Valuev in Germany this week, and now knows the size of the task ahead of him. Haye insisted he found the sheer size of Valuev “freakish, cartoon-like”.
Haye insisted at a news conference eleven days ago that he will be the first fighter to knock Valuev out. Lewis disagrees.

“If he uses his speed he can dance around Valuev. I really thought Holyfield beat Valuev and he's going to have trouble catching up to David. But if Valuev puts his weight on him, it's a lot to have to push off. David will be trying to hit these friends and knock them out, but these friends don't move easily."
Haye will be watching intently tonight for chinks in the armour of Vitali Klitschko, who supports the World Boxing Council title in Los Angeles against Chris Arreola, who is unbeaten in 27 contests.
The 6ft 8ins tall Ukrainian, who weighed ion at 250lbs Arreola was 251lbs – should retain his title, though Arreola effort to become the first Mexican-American heavyweight world title holder.
Klitschko has fought only twice since being stopped on a cut by Lewis, at the Staples Center, in 2003. Klitschko 37-2, with 36 KOs, returned to the ring after knee surgery 12 months ago, stopping both Samuel Peter and Juan Carlos Gomez.
Both adversary looked lacklustre, and without aspiration. Haye has plans for Klitschko next year, but with that WBA belt as a bargaining tool on the table.

David vs Goliath see

Make sure you don't miss David Haye's bid for heavyweight glory live on Sky Box Office.
The Londoner takes on WBA champion and man mountain Nikolai Valuev on November 7 as he bids to become Britain's first world heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
Haye is hoping it will be a question of second time lucky after his first heavyweight world title challenge against Wladimir Klitschko was postponed due to damage in June.
Nicknamed the Beast from the East, Valuev stands at a whopping 7foot and is the tallest and heaviest world champion in history.
For his last fight, a successful defence against Evander Holyfield in December 2008, he weighed in at 310¾lbs,while Haye tipped the scales for his November KO of Monte Barrett at 226lbs.
Valuev has only lost one of his 52 pro fights and is in his second stint as WBA boss. His impressive record includes current wins over Barrett, John Ruiz (twice), Jameel McCline and Holyfield.
The action will be live from the Nuremberg Arena in Germany from 9pm on Saturday November 7 - with a full undercard still to be announced.

Haye in Nuremberg, Valuev

Boxing Team Sauerland is pleased to declare that Nikolai Valuev will defend his WBA Heavyweight Title against David Haye in Nuremberg on November 7. “We are delighted to return to Nuremberg,” Team Sauerland General Manager Chris Meyer said. “Niko only has the best of memories of the Arena Nurnberger Versicherung. That is where he displayed one of the best performances of his career. Back in February 2008, he won every single round in the eliminator against former world champion Sergej Liakhovich. We look forward to another great night of boxing.” Added Kalle Sauerland: “After all the trash talk from David Haye, it is about time that someone shuts him up. I am sure Niko will gratefully accept this task. It will be a battle of David against Goliath but this time, Goliath wins!” While Haye is convinced he can become the first man to floor the Russian Giant, Valuev has been unimpressed by the verbal outbursts of his challenger. “He can say what he wants. I look forward to fighting in Nuremberg again. I will continue where I left it against Liakhovich. Haye is a strong challenger, but he will not beat me. I will defend my title and calm Haye down.”

David Haye to fight for VBA title

NIKOLAI Valuev will defend his WBA heavyweight title against British star David Haye in Germany on November 7, organisers have confirmed.
The fight, real announced in July, had been in doubt over a legal quarrel involving American John Ruiz, who claimed he was Valuev’s mandatory challenger.
German promoters Sauerland have reached a deal with Ruiz’s team to allow the Valuev-Haye fight to go ahead, with the bout taking place at Nuremberg’s Arena Nurnberger Versicherung.

David Haye: Ready to hit the heights against Nikolai Valuev

David Haye ends his exile from the ring tomorrow when he begins the first of 200 intense rounds of sparring at his new gym in central London.
Haye, who is 6ft 3in, fights 7ft Nikolai Valuev for the WBA heavyweight title in Germany on November 7, and he said: "There are sparring partners coming in from Russia, Germany and America for the first week and I'll need more. This is the fight of my life and I need to be in the condition of my life that is what hard sparring is all about.
"I remember watching Lennox Lewis belt the life out of his sparring partners and thinking it was a bit harsh.
"Lennox told me a heavyweight title fight demands the hardest possible sparring. I'm not going to hold back against the giants that I'm bringing in because I want to knock over big men."
Haye's trainer and promotional partner, Adam Booth, has spent six weeks compiling a list of the sport's tallest and heaviest fighters.
Booth said, "It's an extreme fight and I've gone to extreme lengths to guarantee that David gets the right sparring"

Tyson Fury, David Haye happy to spar

David Haye is keen to spar with the young heavyweight sethesis Tyson Fury ahead of his WBA title clash with the Russian giant Nikolai Valuev in November. Haye will attempt to take the WBA title off 7ft 2in Valuev when they meet in Germany on 7 November.
Haye acknowledges he is stepping into the unknown in just his second fight at heavyweight against a man nearly a foot taller than himself. And he admits working with the unbeaten 21-year old Fury who is 6ft 8in tall could benefit both men, with Fury (8-0) often complaining about a stortage of willing sparring partners.
"If Tyson Fury is available, then yes," said Haye. "I'm around at the moment and if he's got a fight coming up I am more than willing to spar with him. He doesn't have to pay me, that's for sure. If he wants to come down and do some work with me I'd more than treasure it and I'm sure he would also."
Haye's trainer Adam Booth believes his man can adapt and work his way around Valuev's size. "I don't necessarily think Valuev's style is wrong for David," he said. "He's always thrived on taller and bigger opponents and ever since he was young he has always sparred with people heavier than him.
"But we're not under-estimating Valuev. There's an easy, obvious statement to make about Valuev that he's big so he's slow. But he's really not that slow, if you look at the tapes of his left hand. And he's very effective at going 12 rounds.
"Although he's even admitted himself he is still learning to box, he's only got to be a certain percentage of what other fighters have to be because he's got those attributes of his height and his weight to carry him along. So you have to look at what he does best, not what he does worst. We'll prepare David for what Valuev does best and then have the answers for that."

David Haye: Jay-Z is a fan of boxer David Haye

Jay-Z thinks boxer David Haye is a knockout. The champ was introduced to the rapper after his show with Coldplay.
Says our mole: "David's a huge Jay-Z fan and was pretty starstruck when they met.
And Jay-Z was equally bowled over and tried to get David a drink but he's teetotal in the build up to a bout. Jay-Z's now preparation on flying over for the fight in November."

Rplicate Holyfield David Haye to ready

David Haye believes he has what it takes to beat the giant Nikolay Valuev before becoming the unchallenged heavyweight champion.The British boxer meets the seven foot two 'Beast From The East' on November 7 with Valuev's WBA belt on the line as Haye prepares to compete for his first title at heavyweight. The 28-year-old was the undisputed cruiserweight champion before making the step up in weight and despite having not had a competitive fight since November last year, Haye believes he is destine to beat Valuev before moving on to greatness."My job is to knock out Nikolai Valuev and become the heavyweight champion of the world. I will be the first British champion since Lennox Lewis and that has always been my aim, to be a two weight world champion," Haye told Sky Sports News."I was undisputed cruiserweight champion and my plan is to go up in weight and do what only one other fighter in history has done that's Evander Holyfield and then become the undisputed world heavyweight champion. The Valuev fight is the next step."

new professional David Price A path to London 2012 opens

David Price has been offered the chance to become the first professional to box at an Olympic Games.
The Liverpudlian turned professional after winning a bronze medal at super heavyweight in Beijing last summer and boxing is the only Olympic sport that excludes professionals.
But the International Boxing Association (AIBA), the amateur world governing body, has agreed a deal that would allow Price to compete in the newly formed World Series of Boxing (WSB) and go to London 2012.
British boxers failed to win a medal at the World Amateur Championships that finished in Milan on Saturday and the cupboard looked particularly bare in the biggest weight division, in which Andy Jones, the British ABA champion, who was sent by Wales after not being selected by Great Britain, was stopped after 99 seconds of his opening bout by Erislandy Savón, a adolescent from Cuba.
The WSB, which is 25 per cent owned by IMG, the sports marketing giant, is the AIBA’s answer to the loss of its talent to the professional code, allowing boxers to be paid, while retaining their power to compete at the Olympics. Rather than competing individually, boxers will be part of teams, over five weight divisions, each competing in five round bouts, with no headguards or vests and with professional style scoring. There will be 12 franchises based over three continents. A deal has been agreed for London to host a franchise, which will not be qualified to British boxers.
At the end of a regular season, there would be play offs to decide a winning team and individual rankings. Boxers would be offered the security of three year contracts worth between $40,000 (about £24,000) and $300,000 with prize money on top.
Only “professionals” competing in the WSB will be allowed to box at the Olympics, boxers who have already turned professional or who leave the system will be excluded. An exemption has been offered to Price, although he is far from certain to take it.
Price, 26, made a winning professional debut in March, after signing with Hayemaker, the promotional company of David Haye. However, after working as Haye’s sparring partner in Cyprus before the cancelled bout with Wladimir Klitschko when Setanta, the television company that had a deal with Hayemaker, went to the wall Price was not offered any more bouts.
His deal with Hayemaker has expired, but Price is believed to have received offers from at least three professional promoters as well as the WSB.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) has come under pressure to appoint three judges in all title bouts after Tyson Fury’s controversial English heavyweight title win over John McDermott on Friday. The points verdict, which was widely criticised, was made by Terry O’Connor, the referee, who made Fury a 98-92 points winner, while most observers saw McDermott as the winner. BBBC rules state that every bout beneath British title level is decided only by the reader, unlike most countries where all bouts are decided by three judges.

'David Haye is a faker', Vitali Klitschko suggests

Vitali Klitschko has questioned whether David Haye was actually injured when he pulled out of boxing his brother, Wladimir.
Haye, 28, claimed a back problem led to him disconcerting his fight against IBF-WBO world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
He also pulled out of talks to fight Vitali, rather striking a deal to challenge Russian Nikolai Valuev for his WBA version of the world title, in Germany on November 7.
WBC champion Vitali, 38, said: "Haye is not a dangerous fighter. I doubt he had an hurt when he gave up the fight against Wladimir.
"We gave Haye the same contract he got with Wladimir to fight me. Against me, Haye had little opportunity to take the title and that's why he didn't take the fight. I don't think about him any more."

Nikolai Valuev's fight still on with David Haye

Chris Meyer, general manager of team Sauerland, promoters of Nikolai Valuev, has allayed fears that David Haye's world title tilt at the WBA heavyweight champion, scheduled for Nov 7, could be called off due to a legal argument.

Meyer said on Wednesday: "There is certainly no problem with the Valuev Haye bout. Everything has been sorted out. We have struck a deal with Team Ruiz for him to step aside.
"Our attorneys are just putting it in writing. Once this deal has been signed, we will submit the necessary papers to the WBA by the end of this week."

"German TV ARD and UK´s Sky Box Office have booked the Nov 7 date in their schedules. We are just discussing the dates for the press conference.
"Valuev is scheduled to start his final preparations at the beginning of September."
According to Boris Dimitrov, the 7ft Russian fighter's manager, a claim by American John Ruiz that he is the authoritative challenger to the World Boxing Association title held by Valuev could have scuppered the Haye Valuev bout.
Dimitrov had affirmed early this week that the Haye Valuev competition could be facing a challenge by Ruiz's legal team, with his camp also disputing the outcome of their competition in Berlin in August last year, which Valuev won on a split points decision.

David Haye's World Boxing fight against Nikolai Valuev in jeopardy

David Haye's world heavyweight title challenge against Nikolai Valuev on Nov 7 could be cancelled, according to Boris Dimitrov, the fighter's agent.

American John Ruiz has clained that he is the mandatory challenger to the World Boxing Association title and not the the 7ft 2in Russian.
The news could be destroying for Haye, who withdrew from a altercation with Wladimir Klitschko, holder of three of the world title bands in the summer, citing a back injury. He then began negotiations to fight Vitali Klitschko, the World Boxing Council champion, before currently announcing a shock deal with Valuev's German promoters, Sauerland, for a November challenge.

Dimitrov, speaking to Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on Tuesday, asserted the Haye-Valuev contest could be facing a challenge by Ruiz's legal team, with his camp also disputing the outcome of their contest in Berlin in August last year, which Valuev won on a split points decision.
I was ringside at that contest, and had Valuev as a convincing winner.
"The fight could be off because of Ruiz," said Dimitrov. "Ruiz is writing accusation to the WBA. He has good lawyers. Ruiz is the official challenger for the WBA title. Initially we had planned the bout with him.
"But as Nikolai had at present fought this fighter and won [twice against him], his promoters [Sauerland] adjudge to look for another opponent.
"Now they must ask Ruiz to wait for his title bout challenge against Valuev. But if he doesn't. the November bout with Haye could be cancelled."
The World Boxing Association are expected to rule on the matter in the coming week.

Klitschko brothers don't see future with champ David Haye

LOS ANGELES — Vitali Klitschko says David Haye might have burned the bridge leading to three of the four major heavyweight title bash.
Klitschko and his manager think it's highly clouded that the Klitschko brothers, who appreciation three claims between them, will give a title fight to Haye, the English cruiserweight champion who backed out of deals to fight both brothers this fall, they say.
Haye alternately is slated to fight Nikolai Valuev, the seven-foot Russian WBA heavyweight champ, on Nov. 7 in Germany.
Bernd Boente, Vitali Klitschko's German manager, felt betrayed by Haye's bluff move to fight Valuev, who isn't considered to be on the lapplander level as WBC champion Vitali or his younger brother, Wladimir, who holds the IBF and WBO belts.