By Phil D. Jay

WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is back in the home comforts of the UK this week, but only has a few days of relaxation, before the pre-fight build-up kicks in. The first official press conference for his July 2nd unification against Wladimir Klitschko is set for early next week and Haye is looking forward to it.

“I've been away pretty much since January,” Haye told Sky Sports.

“I was in New York for three days face to face with Wladimir which was fun, we had two media appointments where we were sitting across the table from each other, letting each other know how we feel about each other.

"We are not in love with each other, put it that way. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to next week when we've got the initial press conferences and start getting the media hype going.”

The fighters’ meeting was part of HBO’s Face Off series, where boxers meet-up before a contest to discuss their feelings about fighting each other and Haye believes that all the bad blood between the two heavyweights has started to get to the Ukrainian.

"I've never seen him so aggressive before. With Wladimir he tries to act all calm and cool but at one stage I was sure he was going to jump across the table and try and hit me.

"I can feel it. I know he's up for this fight and he's not going to come out and do his usual jab, jab and grab. I think he's going to go to war and that's what we all want. I can see it in his eyes, he genuinely despises me and that always makes for a tremendous fight.

"His fights are very tactical, no emotion whatsoever, he doesn't care if the crowd boos, he goes through the motions and gets the win.

"But when you get someone who wants to do some damage to the other guy he comes at him, it means he gets excited and that always make for a more entertaining fight for the fans,” added Haye.

Fans wanting to be the first in the queue for tickets are urged to register at www.eventim.co.uk/david-haye

Phil D. Jay covers the boxing scene for worldboxingnews.net