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David Haye: When did it become manly to stab or shoot someone for scuffing your shoes
BERMONDSEY'S world boxing champion David Haye has become the latest high profile figure to throw his weight behind the 'News' Stop and Stabbing campaign.
Haye, the undisputed world cruiserweight champion and a former pupil of Bacon's College and Snowsfields Primary School, has also backed recent calls for anybody caught carrying a knife to be handed an automatic five year prison sentence.
Speaking out this week, the Hayemaker described the current crop of knife wielding teenagers that blight Southwark's streets as "d*ckheads" adding: "It was tough in my time. We had lots of scraps. But it was not like this. We punched hell out of each other and usually ended up friends. We fought like men, not like d***heads."
He added: "If I am a role model then the best way I can use that influence is to persuade these kids to stop killing each other. When I knock out Wladimir Klitschko to become the recognised world heavyweight champion, I hope it will encourage youngsters to go to the gym and take out their anger on each other with their fists, not with weapons.
"If kids are caught carrying knives, or guns, it should be immediate minimum five-year prison sentences. Forget community service, tags, ASBOs, they're pathetic.”
"These little people need to learn what it is to lose, to be beaten. Until they get there, they won't learn how to control their emotions. I knew kids like that. Mad kids. If they'd have had a gun or a knife they would have killed people," he told a national newspaper.
Incredibly Haye - who has an unshakeable self belief in his boxing skills - admits that he would be ‘terrified’ to be a youngster on the streets today, saying: "I believe I'm the best boxer in the world and I've proved that I am not afraid to fight any man. But I would be terrified to be a youngster out there today.
"Since when did it become manly to stab or shoot someone because he accidentally trod on your sneakers in McDonald's?"
Unlike many others, Haye is even prepared to offer up a solution to the problems - boxing.
"Let's get youngsters into gyms", he said. "People talk about boxing being violent. Society is violent. See how much havoc youngsters would cause after a session on the bag, or sparring. Guarantee you - none.
"We have to bring boxing back into schools and the community. Opponents argue that boxing is dangerous but what is happening in our streets is infinitely more dangerous.
"If this is all about false pride and fake macho, then the first lesson of the ring has a vital message for our society. In there, just as we did as boys brawling in the gutter, you learn that it is possible to be beaten without losing face."
Haye, the undisputed world cruiserweight champion and a former pupil of Bacon's College and Snowsfields Primary School, has also backed recent calls for anybody caught carrying a knife to be handed an automatic five year prison sentence.
Speaking out this week, the Hayemaker described the current crop of knife wielding teenagers that blight Southwark's streets as "d*ckheads" adding: "It was tough in my time. We had lots of scraps. But it was not like this. We punched hell out of each other and usually ended up friends. We fought like men, not like d***heads."
He added: "If I am a role model then the best way I can use that influence is to persuade these kids to stop killing each other. When I knock out Wladimir Klitschko to become the recognised world heavyweight champion, I hope it will encourage youngsters to go to the gym and take out their anger on each other with their fists, not with weapons.
"If kids are caught carrying knives, or guns, it should be immediate minimum five-year prison sentences. Forget community service, tags, ASBOs, they're pathetic.”
"These little people need to learn what it is to lose, to be beaten. Until they get there, they won't learn how to control their emotions. I knew kids like that. Mad kids. If they'd have had a gun or a knife they would have killed people," he told a national newspaper.
Incredibly Haye - who has an unshakeable self belief in his boxing skills - admits that he would be ‘terrified’ to be a youngster on the streets today, saying: "I believe I'm the best boxer in the world and I've proved that I am not afraid to fight any man. But I would be terrified to be a youngster out there today.
"Since when did it become manly to stab or shoot someone because he accidentally trod on your sneakers in McDonald's?"
Unlike many others, Haye is even prepared to offer up a solution to the problems - boxing.
"Let's get youngsters into gyms", he said. "People talk about boxing being violent. Society is violent. See how much havoc youngsters would cause after a session on the bag, or sparring. Guarantee you - none.
"We have to bring boxing back into schools and the community. Opponents argue that boxing is dangerous but what is happening in our streets is infinitely more dangerous.
"If this is all about false pride and fake macho, then the first lesson of the ring has a vital message for our society. In there, just as we did as boys brawling in the gutter, you learn that it is possible to be beaten without losing face."
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