By Terence Dooley
David Haye arrived in Germany earlier this week ahead of his WBA heavyweight title showdown with Nikolay Valuev, the 7’ ‘Beast from the East’. Adam Booth, who trains Haye, told The Times Online that his man will wrest the crown away from Valuev, bringing excitement back to the moribund heavyweight division in the process.
“Heavyweight boxing should be exciting,” declared Booth. “David always looks to try to knock someone out. This is going to be no different; it's a strategy we employ to go about landing shots.
“It is the biggest challenge of his career because he [Valuev] is the biggest guy and it's the world heavyweight championship, but as a trainer, the Jean-Marc Mormeck fight was a big challenge because Mormeck's style was wrong for David so he had to adapt and do different things.”
The fight has taken on the air of a freak show - complete with a farcical London press conference earlier this month. Booth, however, is fully cognisant of the size of the task. “We're not underestimating Valuev,” continued Booth.
“There's an easy, obvious statement to make about Valuev that he's big so he's slow. But he's actually not that slow, if you look at the tapes of [him using] his left hand. And he's very effective at going 12 rounds.
“Although he's even admitted himself he is still learning to box, he's only got to be a certain percentage of what other fighters have to be because he's got those attributes of his height and his weight to carry him along. So we have to look at what he does best, not what he does worst, and then have the answers for that.”
Haye looked trim when Sky Sports caught up with him at the airport. The former undisputed cruiserweight champion is clearly wearing the extra poundage well; he should be able to push Valuev hard in what could turn out to be a fascinating contest.
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