By Terence Dooley
Wladimir Klitschko is showing very little Christmas cheer or charity when it comes to the subject of a unification fight with WBA title holder David Haye. Wlad, who holds the IBO, IBF and WBO titles, believes that a Haye-Klitschko showdown is nailed on for 2011 and will be an easy payday for either himself or older brother, and WBC boss, Vitali.
“One of us will take on Haye next year and whoever it is will send him into retirement by putting him on the canvas,” said Wlad when speaking to the Daily Express.
He added: “It doesn't matter which one it is, both of us are far too big and strong for David Haye, who will be an easy payday for us. Haye is rated only in his own head, outside that nobody rates him.
“Haye is a good one for talking himself up but he lost as a cruiserweight [Carl Thompson in 2004] and he will be nothing for us to beat. He will leave the arena embarrassed if he ever sets foot in the ring with us.”
Both camps have set an early-January deadline for the conclusion of the protracted negotiations. Failure to agree terms could see both brothers seek other opponents, a move that would leave Haye, on a retirement deadline in 2011, out in the cold.
However, the fact that both camps have cranked up the trash talk in recent days suggests that they are on a collision course or, perhaps, that the Christmas break has left a few too many boxing writers kicking their heels.
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