Sadly it looks like the fallout of the failure to have David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko meet on April 30th is going to be bloody. WBA Champion David Haye has released a statement where he attacks Klitschko and threatens that he will now not face either brother after the latest failure to do a deal for a unification match. His full statement is as follows:
“We agreed to a date of July 2nd at a venue in Germany with both Sky Sports and RTL and everybody appeared happy with the deal, We made a few concessions to remove past stumbling blocks and were happy to do so, as it finally looked like the fight would get made.
Even through negotiations, though, it was clear Wladimir was looking for the coward’s way out. He would often come up with new obstacles and problems to overcome, and I never once sensed he fancied it.
He refused to come to England, wanted to pick his own gloves, enter the ring second, box out of the red corner and demanded a German doctor. He also wanted his name to feature first on any promotional material ahead of the event. We bowed to each and every one of his demands. I didn’t want to potentially jeopardise anything this time around.
It should never have come to this, I was available to fight in May and June, yet Klitschko only gave me dates of April 30 and July 2. The April date would be too close to Amir Khan’s next fight, and prove problematic with Sky Box Office, so we settled for July.
Klitschko claims he’ll fight both me and Chisora, but it’s nonsense. Are we expected to believe that a fighter who competed only once in the whole of 2009 and twice in 2010 is now going to box twice in a matter of nine weeks? A bout with me is the most lucrative, meaningful and dangerous fight Wladimir’s ever had, not some throwaway tune-up. Wladimir won’t fight anybody nine weeks after Chisora, let alone me.
I now need to look for a fight of my own beyond April, as Amir Khan has that month tied up with his bout. Presumably Wladimir is expecting me to fight in either May or June and then face him in early July. It’s ridiculous.
They demanded 50:50 right from the start and we eventually agreed and gave them all they wanted, despite the fact that our side brought three times as much money to the overall pot.
We had venues available for May and June, but Wladimir had no intention of ever coming to England. Unfortunately, he claimed he had no venues available in Germany for May and June and that’s why we find ourselves in the situation we’re in right now.
If the fight doesn’t happen now, it never will. I’m done with the Klitschkos. I know I can retire later this year with my head held high, knowing I did everything in my power to make these fights happen. I’ve had defining fights and beaten the best in the world as a cruiserweight, but, without me, Wladimir can never say he’s done the same as a heavyweight.”
Haye’s aggressive response is baffling given that the Klitschko camp have repeatedly said that they are keen to make the match for July 2nd. Its true that the turnaround is quick but surely it makes more sense for Haye to take the offer at face value and then hold Wladimir accountable if he fails to come through? Its certainly not unreasonable for a fighter to not want to sit on the sidelines for ten months. And Wladimir has always been active fighter – his fighting only once in 2009 was largely due to problems making the fight with David Haye – so its certainly not impossible to see him come back quickly.
Wladimir has previously agreed to fight in England only for Haye to back out of the deal after failing to secure the promised soccer stadium, one has to assume that any refusal to cross the English Channel was due to the venues Haye had been able to secure offering lesser financial return than doing the fight in Germany. Haye’s claim that he brings 75% of the money is frankly ludicrous, there is nobody else left that he can draw big numbers on British pay per view and unlike the Klitschkos he has little international exposure. And the fact that he now claims that giving Klitschko a 50/50 split is a concession to them goes completely against his repeated claims that he had agreed to this last summer.
As I’ve said, to me the breakdown of this fight looked like a case of bad timing, and Wladimir Klitschko has gone on record and said that part of the problem was Sky being concerned about clashing with the Royal Wedding. Sky reporters have themselves said that the Haye camp was concerned about the clash as well. But the way Haye is responding is childish and only seeks to further demean him and the championship he holds.
And interestingly his main broadcast partner Sky Sports seem to be tiring of his antics, with the only in-depth piece on their website being a remarkably firm article by pundit and former crusierweight champion Glenn McCory who says that while Adam Booth may right and the problem is with the Klitschkos “I know there are two sides to every story and it takes two to tango, but I haven’t seen either brother duck anybody yet…I have known their manager Bernd Boente for over 20 years and he strikes me as a decent and fair guy. I am not saying Adam Booth isn’t by any means, but I still can’t get over the fact that David Haye needs this fight, the Klitschko’s don’t”. The whole article is well worth a read and marks a noticeable shift from the almost slavish pro-Haye line adopted by Sky all throughout last year.
