By Terence Dooley
Manny Steward has launched a devastating attack on David Haye after negotiations between the Haye and Klitschko camps stalled for the umpteenth time. Steward, the trainer of Wlad, also believes that Haye’s braggadocios behaviour is a front designed to mask the Bermondsey man’s fear of the Klits.
“I don't think they will ever get that little puppy David Haye to come out from under the bed,” said Steward to On The Ropes Boxing Radio, when the news came through that Haye had allegedly turned down a unification fight.
“He's going to let his manager (Adam Booth) stay out there and lock all of the doors and protect him. I don't think we'll ever see David Haye fight. We may see him draw some more cartoon sketches and cut them up and do stuff like that, but I can't understand how a guy can claim that he's even a solid heavyweight, let alone hold a belt, and let a man talk to you the way Wladimir's spoken about him or I've spoken about him.”
He continued: “He has had no response and Wladimir is putting I think about three titles on the line plus the Ring title, and doing everything - and he still won't even sit down and even talk about it. I personally don't think that David Haye has any guts at all when it comes down to fighting the Klitschkos and he can't find all these excuses about money when the man is willing to put all of his titles on the line and do a 50-50 share right down the middle with you.”
Haye famously had to take the short end of the stick when agreeing to fight Wlad in June of last year only for a back injury to kybosh the projected fight. Haye now holds the WBA title and has notched up wins over Nikolay Valuev and John Ruiz, the Klitschko team claim that they have recognised David’s recent heavyweight achievements by offering Haye this fifty-fifty fight.
Haye, though, has fallen silent on the matter, with many taking this silent as a damning indictment of him as a fighter rather than, perhaps, considering that Haye, in mulling the offer over in private, is giving this latest development the attention it deserves. Indeed, Haye won his world title by travelling aboard to defeat Valuev and also grabbed the undisputed cruiserweight crown with an away day stoppage win over Jean Marc Mormeck, the evidence suggests that he is prepared to travel in order to achieve his goals.
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