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Behind the bluster and insults is Adam Booth, Haye’s trainer, confidant, manager and strategist. They identified months ago that there is a ***** in Klitschko’s mental armoury, and their desire is to ruthlessly expose it again and again.
Haye’s plans are twofold: to drive up interest in this contest, in which he is the clear underdog, but also to get inside the head of Klitschko.
There are reports that pre-sales on Sky Box Office for the £50 million super-fight could overhaul the 1.2 million buys for Ricky Hatton’s world title fight with Floyd Mayweather in December 2008.
Yesterday, Haye succeeded in getting under the skin of Klitschko, his brother Vitali, and veteran trainer Emanuel Steward at a head-to-head news conference. With his mob decked out in white tracksuits, and the Ukrainian’s team in red, the plan began with Haye and his group deliberately arriving 30 minutes late for the press conference.
Over the course of two hours, Haye and his team set about Klitschko and his crew. Steward was left speechless and then offered to fight Haye’s punching coach Paddy Fitzpatrick, who alleged midway through the news conference that he had seen the veteran American applying handwraps against the rules in the past.
Later, Steward admitted that Klitschko “has been more emotional in the build-up to this fight than any other” that he had worked with him on. Steward said: “I’ve been involved in super-fights for 30 years, since the first between Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. This is leading up to be the second biggest after the Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson fight. Finally, Wlad has a ‘live’ opponent in David, who has a winning mindset, and not a lot of Wlad’s recent opponents have had that. This has a great feel about it.”
While Steward bolsters his man, behind Haye the thinking is that once hit, Klitschko will be vulnerable. And if there is one thing that Haye knows, it is how to finish.
Haye kicked off his latest verbal volley by describing his opponent, holder of the World Boxing Organisation, International Boxing Federation and International Boxing Organisation belts, as a “robot” that he will make “malfunction”.
“Wladimir is in great shape, is mentally prepared and has viewed all the tapes on me. But come fight night you will see something different and it will be great to watch this robot malfunction,” he said.
“I’m so happy the fight didn’t happen a couple of years ago, because I’m so much better now. People thought I was going to pull out, but here I am in tremendous shape and ready to do what I promised I would do. I have been day-dreaming about the fight, and we have drawn up the perfect game plan to beat Wladimir.”
Klitschko responded in kind, but he was clearly rattled by Haye’s constant hammering. “My name is Dr Klitschko, I am a therapist and on July 2 I am going to give you treatment. It is going to be reality rehab. I will knock you out into reality, which will be good for your life,” he said. “I respect you as a fighter, not a person. You will be a better person and have better manners after this fight.”
Then, as questions opened to the media, Vitali Klitschko, in the third row, took the microphone. “Make sure you come to the press conference after the fight,” said the elder of the brothers, and holder of the World Boxing Council belt. Haye responded immediately. “Make sure you are not in the ambulance with your brother and you get yourself to the post-fight press conference.”
Meanwhile, George Groves, the Haye-promoted British and Commonwealth supermiddleweight champion, roved around the room with a photographer’s camera, clearly displaying the T-shirt depicting Haye knocking the head off an Eastern European champion. Groves got into the faces of both Klitschko brothers with the camera at every opportunity.
Then, when the fighters faced off for the cameras, the motormouth Haye began a series of expletive-filled attacks on his opponent, as they stared each other down. “We’re in trouble now, the hard one is here,” added Haye, when Vitali joined them on the dais.
This is not hot air from Haye and his allies. Every move has been carefully conceived to irk and anger the bigger man. Haye wants Klitschko fighting with anger inside him. It may backfire on the night, but Booth and Haye’s desired end was achieved yesterday. There was steam coming off Klitschko when he left the MesseHalle in Hamburg.
Drip, drip on Twitter
Haye has deliberately attacked his rival time and again via his 250,000 followers on the social networking site. It has stuck.
Klitschko turned to Haye on the news conference day yesterday and said: “So, David, are you going to Tweet about this later?” Haye has been bragging about what he will do to Klitschko with his short messages.
Turn up late
Klitschko is formal, punctual and polite. He arrived at the Hamburg press conference yesterday 15 minutes early. Haye was half an hour late. It was clearly deliberate.
Haye has done this on several occasions. Klitschko has noticed, too. “You had better not be late for the fight,” Klitschko said. Haye may even be plotting to delay the timing of the fight on Saturday night by entering the ring behind schedule.
Apply an app
The latest ‘stunt’ by Haye was unveiled on two weeks ago, with Haye’s new iPhone App inviting fans “to knock the head off an Eastern European heavyweight champion”. This is the third time Haye has used the beheading stunt. Haye turned up to a press conference wearing a
T-shirt depicting him holding the heads of the decapitated Klitschko brothers, and did a photo shoot for Men’s Health magazine of him in shirt and tie, holding the severed head of Vitali Klitschko.
Use your friends
Paddy Fitzpatrick, Haye’s punching coach, yesterday alleged that he had caught Emanuel Steward, Klitschko’s trainer, using illegal handwraps in the past. It riled Steward at yesterday’s news conference. Steward said he “would fight” Fitzpatrick outside. Meanwhile, Haye-promoted George Groves, the British and Commonwealth supermiddleweight champion, was getting in the face of Wladimir Klitschko with his camera at every opportunity yesterday. Wearing a severed head T-shirt.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...ut-defeat.html
Haye’s plans are twofold: to drive up interest in this contest, in which he is the clear underdog, but also to get inside the head of Klitschko.
There are reports that pre-sales on Sky Box Office for the £50 million super-fight could overhaul the 1.2 million buys for Ricky Hatton’s world title fight with Floyd Mayweather in December 2008.
Yesterday, Haye succeeded in getting under the skin of Klitschko, his brother Vitali, and veteran trainer Emanuel Steward at a head-to-head news conference. With his mob decked out in white tracksuits, and the Ukrainian’s team in red, the plan began with Haye and his group deliberately arriving 30 minutes late for the press conference.
Over the course of two hours, Haye and his team set about Klitschko and his crew. Steward was left speechless and then offered to fight Haye’s punching coach Paddy Fitzpatrick, who alleged midway through the news conference that he had seen the veteran American applying handwraps against the rules in the past.
Later, Steward admitted that Klitschko “has been more emotional in the build-up to this fight than any other” that he had worked with him on. Steward said: “I’ve been involved in super-fights for 30 years, since the first between Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. This is leading up to be the second biggest after the Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson fight. Finally, Wlad has a ‘live’ opponent in David, who has a winning mindset, and not a lot of Wlad’s recent opponents have had that. This has a great feel about it.”
While Steward bolsters his man, behind Haye the thinking is that once hit, Klitschko will be vulnerable. And if there is one thing that Haye knows, it is how to finish.
Haye kicked off his latest verbal volley by describing his opponent, holder of the World Boxing Organisation, International Boxing Federation and International Boxing Organisation belts, as a “robot” that he will make “malfunction”.
“Wladimir is in great shape, is mentally prepared and has viewed all the tapes on me. But come fight night you will see something different and it will be great to watch this robot malfunction,” he said.
“I’m so happy the fight didn’t happen a couple of years ago, because I’m so much better now. People thought I was going to pull out, but here I am in tremendous shape and ready to do what I promised I would do. I have been day-dreaming about the fight, and we have drawn up the perfect game plan to beat Wladimir.”
Klitschko responded in kind, but he was clearly rattled by Haye’s constant hammering. “My name is Dr Klitschko, I am a therapist and on July 2 I am going to give you treatment. It is going to be reality rehab. I will knock you out into reality, which will be good for your life,” he said. “I respect you as a fighter, not a person. You will be a better person and have better manners after this fight.”
Then, as questions opened to the media, Vitali Klitschko, in the third row, took the microphone. “Make sure you come to the press conference after the fight,” said the elder of the brothers, and holder of the World Boxing Council belt. Haye responded immediately. “Make sure you are not in the ambulance with your brother and you get yourself to the post-fight press conference.”
Meanwhile, George Groves, the Haye-promoted British and Commonwealth supermiddleweight champion, roved around the room with a photographer’s camera, clearly displaying the T-shirt depicting Haye knocking the head off an Eastern European champion. Groves got into the faces of both Klitschko brothers with the camera at every opportunity.
Then, when the fighters faced off for the cameras, the motormouth Haye began a series of expletive-filled attacks on his opponent, as they stared each other down. “We’re in trouble now, the hard one is here,” added Haye, when Vitali joined them on the dais.
This is not hot air from Haye and his allies. Every move has been carefully conceived to irk and anger the bigger man. Haye wants Klitschko fighting with anger inside him. It may backfire on the night, but Booth and Haye’s desired end was achieved yesterday. There was steam coming off Klitschko when he left the MesseHalle in Hamburg.
Drip, drip on Twitter
Haye has deliberately attacked his rival time and again via his 250,000 followers on the social networking site. It has stuck.
Klitschko turned to Haye on the news conference day yesterday and said: “So, David, are you going to Tweet about this later?” Haye has been bragging about what he will do to Klitschko with his short messages.
Turn up late
Klitschko is formal, punctual and polite. He arrived at the Hamburg press conference yesterday 15 minutes early. Haye was half an hour late. It was clearly deliberate.
Haye has done this on several occasions. Klitschko has noticed, too. “You had better not be late for the fight,” Klitschko said. Haye may even be plotting to delay the timing of the fight on Saturday night by entering the ring behind schedule.
Apply an app
The latest ‘stunt’ by Haye was unveiled on two weeks ago, with Haye’s new iPhone App inviting fans “to knock the head off an Eastern European heavyweight champion”. This is the third time Haye has used the beheading stunt. Haye turned up to a press conference wearing a
T-shirt depicting him holding the heads of the decapitated Klitschko brothers, and did a photo shoot for Men’s Health magazine of him in shirt and tie, holding the severed head of Vitali Klitschko.
Use your friends
Paddy Fitzpatrick, Haye’s punching coach, yesterday alleged that he had caught Emanuel Steward, Klitschko’s trainer, using illegal handwraps in the past. It riled Steward at yesterday’s news conference. Steward said he “would fight” Fitzpatrick outside. Meanwhile, Haye-promoted George Groves, the British and Commonwealth supermiddleweight champion, was getting in the face of Wladimir Klitschko with his camera at every opportunity yesterday. Wearing a severed head T-shirt.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...ut-defeat.html
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