By Chris LaBate
WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is roaring away to fight WBO/IBO/IBF champin Wladimir Klitschko. They signed contracts last week to fight in Germany on June 25 or July 2. Haye thinks Klitschko was forced to take the fight because the public would have never allowed him to walk away from negotiations.
"I think he realised that the world boxing fans would never have allowed him to walk away from this situation," Haye told Sky Sports Ringside. "We said from day one it's a 50-50 deal - it makes perfect sense - and it can't be that complicated a deal to do; everything goes into the pot, it's split 50-50. He tried to wriggle out of it a few times but finally he put pen to paper and I'm just happy that the fight I've been craving all this years is finally going to happen."
The main weapon between the two of them is Klitschko's hard left jab. Haye is confident of being able to neutralize the jab. He thinks Klitschko's jab is hyped up against out of shape opponents, and speed will be the weapon to avoid the long jab.
"It's head movement, speed and athleticism. He's never fought anyone athletic enough to get past his jab. His jab is very, very impressive against guys like Samuel Peter - fat heavyweights who aren't in shape. I'm sure it is different for guys with the same dimensions as someone like Samuel Peter, probably something like two stones over a good weight in my mind. The guy came out with no real gameplan, hoping Wladimir ran out of steam - but that's a real bad gameplan," Haye said.
"I'm not going to hope Wladimir runs out of steam after six rounds because I know he won't. A lot of people feel I've got a weight disadvantage going into this fight with Wladimir but I look at it a different way; I feel I've got a weight advantage. With my lighter weight comes more speed, more athleticism, more ability - something he's never encountered before."
