By Mark Vester
Adam Booth, manager of David Haye, says a September fight with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko is a possible move for them. After suffering a back injury, Haye withdrew from his June 20 bout with WBO/IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko. Instead, Wladimir will now face Ruslan Chagaev. Vitali has to deal with his mandatory issue with Oleg Maskaev, scheduled for arbitration in the next few days. The WBC wants him to fight Maskaev, but Vitali just made a mandatory defense in March against Juan Carlos Gomez.
"We’ve spoken about Vitali in September," Booth told the Daily Star Sunday. "Fighting Vitali is just something that was thrown up with a few other things, but we’ve not directly talked to them about it. It was passed on to me by someone else. It has always been about the Klitschkos and the interest of David against a Klitschko is now greater than ever."
The Haye camp may be shooting for the stars. If Vitali wins his case with the WBC, the fight he is likely to take is against number-one ranked Chris Arreola. There will be less headaches involved with making that fight and he doesn't have to wait until September to do it. Wladimir on the other hand has a September mandatory with IBF champ Alexander Povetkin and then he may be forced to make his WBO mandatory against the winner of Dimitrenko-Chambers in January.
Haye may have to get his title shot the old fashioned way - by climbing the ladder like everyone else. One major sticking point with Haye getting a shot at either Klitschko is the lack of heavyweight credentials. Most fighters who are moving up, whether it be Michael Moorer or Evander Holyfield, had to work for their titles shots. Michael Spinks, his credentials far outweight those of Haye. Someone may bring up Roy Jones Jr. but he fought John Ruiz, who many viewed as the weakest of the heavyweight champions at that time. Haye is not shooting for the weakest, he wants the biggest money fights in the entire division. He did stop Monte Barrett in five and some see that as a big accomplishment. Those same people must have forgotten that Barrett was stopped in two rounds by journeyman Cliff Couser only a fights earlier.
But Haye does bring excitement and if he really thinks he's as good as he says, then he should fight any heavyweight to stay active and not stall his career by waiting around to land a Klitschko.
Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com
