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David Haye confronted world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and said: "Stop fighting bums and fight me."
Undisputed world cruiserweight king Haye stopped Klitschko, who was on his way into a charity event at London's ExCel Centre, to stake his claim for a showdown.
Klitschko, trapped on the stairs, hit back by telling the Englishman to "behave himself" but, significantly, he left the door open for a fight between the pair in the future.
He told 27-year-old Londoner Haye that he could get his chance to try and emulate his hero Evander Holyfield, who graduated from cruiserweight to heavyweight champion, once he has established himself in the higher division.
Klitschko is committed to a mandatory defence of his WBO title against American Tony Thompson in Hamburg on July 12 and has then been ordered to face Alexander Povetkin, his number one IBF challenger.
But Haye, staring into his face, shouted: "I don't want you to lose to these two bums.
"I am the undisputed number one champion in the cruiserweight division. If you want to fight the number one fighter then fight me."
Klitschko countered: "For now, in the heavyweight division you are a nobody. You have to prove yourself."
But Haye told him: "The last time an undisputed champion went up to heavyweight he won the title - Evander Holyfield. I'm bigger than Evander Holyfield."
Klitschko, struggling to get a word in, repeated: "You have to prove yourself. You haven't proved anything."
Haye responded: "I don't have anything to prove. You've got to fight the best fighters out there - and the best fighter is me.
"Who's Tony Thompson? What have Thompson and Alexander Povetkin ever done?
"These people are bums. Fight the main man, that's me. There is no need to hide behind these mandatory bums. No-one knows who they are.
"When your mandatories are out of the way then let's get it on. I'll beat two top 10 fighters, then what are we going to do?"
Klitschko, attending the London launch of the Fight For Peace project for youngsters, replied: "I'm here for a charity press conference. Get in the line and at the end of the day we will see what happens."
The Londoner, who was led away, returned from the Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins fight earlier this week and said: "In Vegas everyone was asking when I'm fighting Klitschko. It's the fight everyone wants.
"No-one has even heard of Thompson and Povetkin, who ducked me in the amateurs by moving up to super-heavyweight. But these are the guys he's fighting and it's just a joke.
"He holds the most heavyweight titles and I'm the fastest fighter with the best knockout record so we should fight as soon as possible.
"He's just hiding behind the mandatory defences. This would be the biggest fight in the heavyweight division since Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.
"But he's just scared and I can see it in his eyes. I reckon I'll knock him out in six rounds."
Before dashing off to the Chelsea-Manchester United match as a guest of the London club's owner Roman Abramovich, the 32-year-old Ukrainian said: "I'd hardly heard of David Haye until I arrived in London but he's been following me around.
"I understand he is young and enthusiastic but I am committed to my mandatory defence against Tony Thompson and I'm focusing on that."
Undisputed world cruiserweight king Haye stopped Klitschko, who was on his way into a charity event at London's ExCel Centre, to stake his claim for a showdown.
Klitschko, trapped on the stairs, hit back by telling the Englishman to "behave himself" but, significantly, he left the door open for a fight between the pair in the future.
He told 27-year-old Londoner Haye that he could get his chance to try and emulate his hero Evander Holyfield, who graduated from cruiserweight to heavyweight champion, once he has established himself in the higher division.
Klitschko is committed to a mandatory defence of his WBO title against American Tony Thompson in Hamburg on July 12 and has then been ordered to face Alexander Povetkin, his number one IBF challenger.
But Haye, staring into his face, shouted: "I don't want you to lose to these two bums.
"I am the undisputed number one champion in the cruiserweight division. If you want to fight the number one fighter then fight me."
Klitschko countered: "For now, in the heavyweight division you are a nobody. You have to prove yourself."
But Haye told him: "The last time an undisputed champion went up to heavyweight he won the title - Evander Holyfield. I'm bigger than Evander Holyfield."
Klitschko, struggling to get a word in, repeated: "You have to prove yourself. You haven't proved anything."
Haye responded: "I don't have anything to prove. You've got to fight the best fighters out there - and the best fighter is me.
"Who's Tony Thompson? What have Thompson and Alexander Povetkin ever done?
"These people are bums. Fight the main man, that's me. There is no need to hide behind these mandatory bums. No-one knows who they are.
"When your mandatories are out of the way then let's get it on. I'll beat two top 10 fighters, then what are we going to do?"
Klitschko, attending the London launch of the Fight For Peace project for youngsters, replied: "I'm here for a charity press conference. Get in the line and at the end of the day we will see what happens."
The Londoner, who was led away, returned from the Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins fight earlier this week and said: "In Vegas everyone was asking when I'm fighting Klitschko. It's the fight everyone wants.
"No-one has even heard of Thompson and Povetkin, who ducked me in the amateurs by moving up to super-heavyweight. But these are the guys he's fighting and it's just a joke.
"He holds the most heavyweight titles and I'm the fastest fighter with the best knockout record so we should fight as soon as possible.
"He's just hiding behind the mandatory defences. This would be the biggest fight in the heavyweight division since Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.
"But he's just scared and I can see it in his eyes. I reckon I'll knock him out in six rounds."
Before dashing off to the Chelsea-Manchester United match as a guest of the London club's owner Roman Abramovich, the 32-year-old Ukrainian said: "I'd hardly heard of David Haye until I arrived in London but he's been following me around.
"I understand he is young and enthusiastic but I am committed to my mandatory defence against Tony Thompson and I'm focusing on that."
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