By Rick Reeno
Several days ago, David Haye spoke in detail with Setanta Sports about his next ring appearance, at heavyweight, in November. There is no set opponent, but former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman was one of the frontrunners to land the slot. Last week in California, Rahman was on the losing-end of a rematch with James Toney. The ending was controversial. Rahman suffered a cut after an accidental clash of heads in the third-round. Following the conclusion of the third, Rahman advised the ring physician that he was unable to see. The ring physician would call a halt to the fight and Toney was awarded the win by way of a third-round technical-knockout.
Rahman and his team are going to file a petition, arguing that a no-decision should have been rendered because according to the rules, four-rounds of action had not been completed. The physician argues that Rahman’s cut was not serious enough to stop the fight and the only reason he stopped the action was because Rahman was not interested in continuing.
Despite the loss, Haye is still trying to eye a fight with Rahman - if the former champion’s petition is successful, changing the recent knockout loss to a no-decision.
"The heavyweight situation is very fragile. There was talk of Hasim Rahman, but he got beat by James Toney. Is that fight going to get changed to a no decision? If it does, that leaves him back in the mix,” Haye said.
Toney was furious with Haye’s insistence to make a fight with Rahman and contacted MaxBoxing/BoxingScene.com to put the Haymaker in check.
“David Haye is a comedian. Is he scared of an old, fat, short guy? He’s done nothing to even deserve a fight with [Wladimir] Klitschko. He won the cruiserweight titles from two bums, one old guy and one guy who can’t even fight in [Enzo] Maccarrinelli. And he thinks now he should get Klitschko? It’s ludicrous,” Toney would tell BoxingScene.
“Rahman is a joke. I beat him and I wasn’t even 100% yet. When I say I wasn’t 100%, my weight wasn’t back to where it was when I fought [Evander] Holyfield. If he got the balls, let’s sign the contract and do this. My record is proven. Come and try to beat me. All Golden Boy has to do is call Dan.”
For several months, Haye has been calling for a fight with IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. When Toney made his permanent move to heavyweight, he took on former-four time heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield. Toney views Haye as a fighter trying to take the easiest road possible to a title shot, but even if Haye gets there - Toney doesn’t see him being able to beat Klitschko.
“As terrible as Klitschko is, he will beat Haye. Haye has no chin and no heart, he proved that against Carl Thompson years ago. Things don’t change. He’s a typical Euro and British fighter. They get fed a bunch of bums and come over here and don’t want to fight a good fighter. I will destroy David Haye. He will never fight again. Everyone I fight, I ruin them. They are never the same again,” Toney said,
“Even Monte Barrett will knock him out. He’s afraid of me. I’m the realest fighter in the game. I’m the only old school fighter left in the game, not Bernard Hopkins. Haye wants the easy road. After I beat Rahman, I knew they would still go after him because he’s fragile. I took his spine and his heart in that fight.”
Toney wants to return to the ring as soon as possible and he’s willing to fight anyone in the heavyweight division. He doesn’t seem to have a preference between Peter and Klitschko. For Toney, it all depends on who signs the contract first.
“I told Dan that I want to fight again by August or early September. I’ll fight anybody. I don’t care who it is. I started at 157 and now I’m fighting heavyweights and beating the brakes off of them. Some of the writers and sports announcers don’t want to give me my props. I’ve been in this game for 20 years and I’m still going to be here. When I’m right, nobody can see me,” Toney said.
“Third time around Sam Peter is going to sleep. I’ll get that dashiki motherf**ker. I don’t care if I fight Klitschko or Sam Peter. Whoever signs the contract first will get whooped. I will be heavyweight champion of the world again.”
