Comments Thread For: Vitali Klitschko Says: "I'm Ready To Fight David Haye"

[Ravens Fan]

Valuev saw the contract and said it was bad and said his team offered Haye a better deal dumbass, if the Klitschko were so confident in beating Haye why did they need multiple rematch clauses and refused to fight without them?

I seriously doubt that fighters of the caliber of the Klit brothers would go into any fight without a rematch clause. Simply because they are in the position to be able to demand it.

[Dave Rado]

good point and all but for me its to much of a coincidence haye pulls out of a Wlad fight then Vitali and signs on to fight Valuev???

There is no evidence that the injury wasn't legit, and he got offered more money to fight Valuev than he was offered to fight Vitali. If he beats Ruiz convincingly, he'll be in a much better position to get a fight with one of the Klitschkos on reasonable terms than he was before. Before he was jumping the queue and K2 wanted to humiliate him in the negotiations (quite understandably, but still). If he KOs Ruiz, it would be a different ball game.

He won't be able to credibly fight anyone not named Klitschko after the Ruiz fight, even if he wanted to. No broadcaster would pay him a cent to fight anyone else (unless K2 didn't want the fight to happen, but they've made it clear that they do).

[Dave Rado]

I seriously doubt that fighters of the caliber of the Klit brothers would go into any fight without a rematch clause. Simply because they are in the position to be able to demand it.

A one-rematch clause is normal. A 2-rematch clause is unprecedented, especially as it specified that he couldn't fight anyone else in between the three fights, even if that meant being stripped of any titles he had won.

And the other aspect of that deal that was highly unusual was that Haye was offered 0% of everything other than the Sky PPV money. That's 0% of the sponsorship money, of the live gate, of the German, HBO, and the worldwide TV rights. And there was no guaranteed element even in the Sky money. And a fairly large, but undisclosed, percentage of even the Sky money would have gone to Vitali.

I dont think any other fighter has ever been offered such terms, and I'm sure Haye will be able to get better than that if he fights Vitali in 2010, provided he beats Ruiz convincingly.

Also, K2 have said that Haye was offered similar terms to fight Vitali as he'd been offered to fight Wlad, but that's misleading, as it ignores two things that had changed by then. One was that Sky weren't offering Haye as good a deal to fight Vitali as Setanta had offered him to fight Wlad; and the other was that Valuev hadn't made Haye a better offer when Haye was in negotiations with Wlad, but he did make him a better offer when he was in negotiations with Vitali.

[Allucard]

A one-rematch clause is normal. A 2-rematch clause is unprecedented, especially as it specified that he couldn't fight anyone else in between the three fights, even if that meant being stripped of any titles he had won.

And the other aspect of that deal that was highly unusual was the Haye was offered 0% of everything other than the Sky PPV money. That's 0% of the sponsorship money, of the live gate, of the German, HBO, and the worldwide TV rights. And there was no guaranteed element even in the Sky money. And a fairly large, but undisclosed, percentage of even the Sky money would have gone to Vitali.

I dont think any other fighter has ever been offered such terms, and I'm sure Haye will be able to get better than that if he fights Vitali in 2010, provided he beats Ruiz convincingly

What he said.

[True Guru]

There is no evidence that the injury wasn't legit,

6 months later and there is still no medical report...everyone knows the injury was bogus and it was because Setanta couldnt guarantee him payment.

[Leo Pradun]

I dont believe the Valuev offer was better one bit, it was just a safer way for Haye and the easiest way to get the title

[Dave Rado]

6 months later and there is still no medical report...everyone knows the injury was bogus and it was because Setanta couldnt guarantee him payment.

There was no obligation to provide a medical report because Wlad called off the fight. If Wlad had agreed to postpone as Haye requested, then Haye would have been forced to provide him with the medical report. To take the risk of being forced to provide a medical report that didn't exist would have been really ******. Furthermore, several journalists said they saw him obviously injured and unable to walk properly.

"Everyone knows" is rubbish. You're confusing conspiracy theory with fact or even with hard evidence.

[EuropeFightFan]

Haye was a good guy early in his pro career but has since grown into a braggart who believes himself to be better than he really is. I'm amazed at the ignorance of the British public with regards to Haye's "world title" win...it was Wladimir who defeated the real WBA titleholder Chagaev. Like I've said before, Haye took the path of least resistance with Valuev...why even fight the Klitschko brothers when he's getting all this acclaim already? He has people leeching off him and telling him this and that...and for someone who is not completely established in his division like Haye, who has a lot of hard work ahead of him if he wishes to be seen as the number one man in the Heavyweight division, that's not good.

I feel a lot of people think more of what they want Haye to be, rather than what he is. A future cannot be engineered for somebody...There has been a few hotly tipped heavyweights in recent years for whom future success was just to be taken for granted, such as Ike Ibeabuchi, Joe Mesi or Rydell Booker for instance.

Many men come and go in the sport of boxing...many have their "5 minutes of fame" so to speak...the Klitschkos both went on to fulfill their potential despite both suffering setbacks in their career and have both long established themselves in the Heavyweight division through their hard work, determination and dedication to produce consistent performances. That's what makes the Klitschko brothers stand out from others. They are both at the top of the tree and have truly earned any acclaim that comes to them. Disco Dave has a loss to Carl Thompson in the Cruiserweights and implies that it heralded a change in his attitude, but you have to wonder whether he has truly learned his lessons from that loss...his recent preoccupations with non-boxing matters seems to hint that he hasn't. When Chris Eubank was asked what the secret to his success was, he said he went straight back to the gym after a fight whether he won or lost.

As it stands, Haye is competing in a division that is completely dominated by two other men and will be third place at best unless he actually climbs into the ring to face either of them. Haye has to understand that after his mandatory Ruiz fight, the Klitschko brothers are the only men that boxing fans truly want to see him face...no other fight in the Heavyweights would be relevant.

[Phirsole]

Haye was a good guy early in his pro career but has since grown into a braggart who believes himself to be better than he really is.

(...)

As it stands, Haye is competing in a division that is completely dominated by two other men and will be third place at best unless he actually climbs into the ring to face either of them. Haye has to understand that after his mandatory Ruiz fight, the Klitschko brothers are the only men that boxing fans truly want to see him face...no other fight in the Heavyweights would be relevant.

Exactly. Very good post.

[AFTER HOURS]

this should happen next year.