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Wladimir Klitschko's trainer Emanuel Steward has labelled David Haye 'a genius' for bringing a buzz back to the heavyweight division.
And the Hall of Famer even went so far as to say that Haye is the most exciting fighter to hit the world stage since Cassius Clay more than 40 years ago.
Many have found the Briton's trash-talking distasteful as he almost goaded the IBF/WBO/IBO champion into taking him on, despite having just one warm-up fight since moving up from cruiserweight.
But Haye got his wish, with the pair entering the ring in front of 70,000 fans in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on June 20...and Steward can hardly wait.
"David Haye brings an excitement like Cassius Clay in 1963," he said. "I was training then and he was creating excitement just verbally in addition to knocking out guys.
"This is the first time I have seen anyone do what David Haye is doing. He hasn't even fought a quality heavyweight, he's got a knockout against Monte Barrett, a guy (Klitschko) knocked out about 10 years ago.
"But he's a genius to create this excitement, he's even got me excited. I wanted to go to training camp this week and Wlad said 'no', wait a couple more weeks. So there's a lot of excitement in this fight."
Lacklustre
Importantly for Steward, he believes Haye's aggression in and out of the ring will inspire Klitschko into raising his game following lacklustre recent defences against Lamon Brewster, Tony Thompson and Hasim Rahman.
"Wladimir will be fighting a guy who isn't like who he's been fighting in the recent past," he added. "Recently they've all been old, veteran guys who've been fighting to survive. This is somebody who's going to come to knock Wladimir out.
"He's going to bring energy, excitement and explosiveness we have not seen for some while.
"And Wladimir fights at his best when fighters come to him. Wladimir fights very good when he's attacked. He does not fight good with fighters who lay back.
"David Haye is going to come at him and be very aggressive and it's going to be one of those type of fights that's not going to go 12 rounds."
But Steward, naturally, believes his man will have the power to end it first.
"I want this fight over with quick," he underlined. "I want him to knock out David Haye within six rounds because we cannot play safe this time.
"We'll break him down slowly and then he'll feel the strength of a full heavyweight."
SOURCE:SkySports
And the Hall of Famer even went so far as to say that Haye is the most exciting fighter to hit the world stage since Cassius Clay more than 40 years ago.
Many have found the Briton's trash-talking distasteful as he almost goaded the IBF/WBO/IBO champion into taking him on, despite having just one warm-up fight since moving up from cruiserweight.
But Haye got his wish, with the pair entering the ring in front of 70,000 fans in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on June 20...and Steward can hardly wait.
"David Haye brings an excitement like Cassius Clay in 1963," he said. "I was training then and he was creating excitement just verbally in addition to knocking out guys.
"This is the first time I have seen anyone do what David Haye is doing. He hasn't even fought a quality heavyweight, he's got a knockout against Monte Barrett, a guy (Klitschko) knocked out about 10 years ago.
"But he's a genius to create this excitement, he's even got me excited. I wanted to go to training camp this week and Wlad said 'no', wait a couple more weeks. So there's a lot of excitement in this fight."
Lacklustre
Importantly for Steward, he believes Haye's aggression in and out of the ring will inspire Klitschko into raising his game following lacklustre recent defences against Lamon Brewster, Tony Thompson and Hasim Rahman.
"Wladimir will be fighting a guy who isn't like who he's been fighting in the recent past," he added. "Recently they've all been old, veteran guys who've been fighting to survive. This is somebody who's going to come to knock Wladimir out.
"He's going to bring energy, excitement and explosiveness we have not seen for some while.
"And Wladimir fights at his best when fighters come to him. Wladimir fights very good when he's attacked. He does not fight good with fighters who lay back.
"David Haye is going to come at him and be very aggressive and it's going to be one of those type of fights that's not going to go 12 rounds."
But Steward, naturally, believes his man will have the power to end it first.
"I want this fight over with quick," he underlined. "I want him to knock out David Haye within six rounds because we cannot play safe this time.
"We'll break him down slowly and then he'll feel the strength of a full heavyweight."
SOURCE:SkySports
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