By Robert Morales

David Haye sustained at least a severely sprained right hand, as well as a cut, while taking Nikolai Valuev's heavyweight world title last Saturday in Germany. But his health permitting, Haye will next make a mandatory defense against John Ruiz. The plan then would be to unify the title with one of the Klitschkos - Vitali or Wladimir - before fighting a rematch with Valuev.

That was Wednesday's word from Richard Schaefer, the Golden Boy Promotions CEO who just returned from Germany after watching Haye, of England, win a majority decision over the 7-foot Russian behemoth. Haye is co-promoted by Golden Boy and Hayemaker Promotions.

Sauerland Event, which co-promotes Valuev along with Don King, will play a role in those aforementioned bouts as Schaefer confirmed the company does have options on Haye's next three fights because Valuev's defense against Haye was voluntary and not mandatory.

"The fact is they are going to be involved in David Haye's next three fights," said Schaefer to BoxingScene.com. He wasn't certain if King would be included, but that if he is, "it would be on the side of the Sauerland equation."

There was a rematch clause for Valuev in the contract for Saturday's fight with Haye, but Schaefer said it did not stipulate the rematch had to be immediate. Thus the plan for Haye to first fight Ruiz and then one of the Klitschkos.

"The next fight for David Haye will be a mandatory defense against John Ruiz, probably in the spring of 2010, in the UK," Schaefer said. "It will be like a homecoming for David Haye."

That course of action could be derailed slightly if Haye's hand is broken. Schaefer said he Haye is expected to get an MRI this week.

"I'm not sure yet if it was broken or not," Schaefer said. "It was severely sprained when I left. Usually that happens when you hit somebody on the top of the head. But David hit (Valuev) on the chin and his chin was as strong as the top of someone's head, like it was made out of granite."

Schaefer: Klitschko's Must Be Courteous

Haye previously pulled out of a fight with Wladimir Klitschko because of an injury, then he pulled out of one with Vitali Klitschko because he decided to fight Valuev instead. Regardless of all that, Schaefer said a fight between Haye and one of the Klitschkos will happen as long as honor is demonstrated by the two sides.

"If they are going to respect David as a champion, and they are going to treat him as such," Schaefer said of his stipulations for negotiations with either Klitschko, both of whom are champions. "We are going to treat the Klitschkos with respect, and we expect the same in return."

No problem, said Tom Loeffler, general manager of the Klitschkos' K2 Promotions.

"Now that Haye is champion, he is certainly more marketable," Loeffler said to BoxingScene. "In hindsight, he probably made the right move (pulling out of the fight with Vitali Klitschko). The problem with Haye now is he has a mandatory defense against John Ruiz and apparently he has some options with either King or Sauerland that have to be abided by.

"But he does become a more marketble fighter as he continues to win."

Vitali Klitschko is scheduled to defend his world title against Kevin Johnson on Dec. 12 in Switzerland. Wladimir Klitschko holds two of the four major belts and has mandatory challenges for both. One is against Eddie Chambers, the other against Alexander Povetkin.

Loeffler said he is currently negotiating with Dan Goossen for a fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Chambers that could take place in March. Chambers is promoted by Goossen.

Schaefer said Haye will play host to a luncheon on Saturday at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas just hours before Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto get it on across the street at MGM Grand.

Mosley-Berto To Be Formally Announced

As a prelude to the Haye luncheon, Schaefer and others will play host to a news conference at Mandalay Bay formally announcing the Jan. 30 welterweight title fight between "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Andre Berto at Mandalay Bay.

It's taken a while to get to this point, but Schaefer said all systems are go. Mosley is stoked.

"I'm excited that I'm fighting, just happy that the fight is going to take place," Mosley said via telephone Wednesday to BoxingScene.com; he hasn't fought since dismantling Antonio Margarito in a ninth-round technical knockout last January in Los Angeles.

There has been a war of words between Mosley and Berto of late. Mosley was asked if that will make this fight even more anticipated.

"I don't know, I don't really play into all that," he said. "I just speak the truth and that's it. I don't mean to try and bad-mouth him or anything. But I do believe when I get in there I'm going to ruin his career."

Roach: Pacquiao Now Boxing Like Young Tyson

Freddie Roach has trained Pacquiao for his past 20 fights spanning more than eight years. Pacquiao went 7-0-2 in the first nine. Included therein was his first victory over Marco Antonio Barrera and a draw with Juan Manuel Marquez.

Then came the first fight with Erik Morales, and Morales won a unanimous decision by three scores of 115-113. It was then that Roach really decided to step up his effort to transform Pacquiao from a wild-swinger who left himself wide open to someone who could not only knock out an opponent, but out-box him. A power boxer, if you will.

"The thing is at one time he was just a wreckless guy who had a big punch," said Roach, who Saturday will guide Pacquiao in his challenge to Cotto and his welterweight championship. "Then after he lost to Morales, it woke me up and I said, 'I'm going to make him a better fighter.'

"Someone told me, 'He's just an ordinary guy who has a big left hand.' I said, 'No, he's better than that.' I wanted to prove that and so we started working on the right hand and the defense and the head movement and the boxing. And it slowly, slowly came and then after eight years, now he's here. Everything is starting to work. His last three fights have been almost picture-perfect."

Pacquiao's fight with Oscar De La Hoya last December at MGM Grand was a prime example. It's easy to say that De La Hoya was drained and did not have much on his punches. That may well be true. But think about how beautifully Pacquiao boxed during those eight rounds before De La Hoya did not answer the bell for the ninth. We never would have seen that from Pacquiao a few years ago. He would have gotten careless, and perhaps that would have allowed De La Hoya to connect with a punch to the chin that could have given the Golden Boy a chance.

If a punch is landed cleanly and on the chin, it doesn't necessarily have to be the biggest punch in the world to do some damage. But De La Hoya rarely landed anything of a clean nature in that fight, thanks to Pacquiao's overall body and head movement.

Now, think about it for a second: What former vicious world champion used a lot of upper torso and head movement as he came in to do his damage? Roach knows.

"The thing is, obviously, his defense was pretty poor," Roach said of Pacquiao. "And so it was easy to get that through to him because he knew he was getting hit a lot. So, he understood that movement throws people off. Constant movement is just the key to his defense.

"Like when Mike Tyson was in his prime, he had constant movement. Because when you're constantly moving, they really don't know whether you're coming or going. He's really hard to reach and that's the key to his defense at this point in his career."

By the way, Pacquiao is 10-0 with seven knockouts since that loss to Morales. Two of those victories were knockouts of Morales.

Pacquiao Says Size Won't Matter

Roach said the main reason Pacquiao has been successful at the higher weights after starting his career at 106 pounds is because he is a tremendous student of the game.

Well, when Pacquiao played host to a media workout last week at Roach's Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, a few reporters were allowed to get a jump on others by speaking to Pacquiao in his dressing room.

Pacquiao was told that Cotto believes Pacquiao won't be big enough to handle the shots of a truly hard-hitting welterweight. Suddenly, Pacquiao sounded like Roach.

"Well, that's what he thinks and that's what he believes, but I've heard that a couple of times in the past," said Pacquiao, laughing. "But it's not about comparing the big size, it's not about comparing the power. It's about he has to remember the mind is also the power. The knowledge is also the power. If you have knowledge, you have power."

Arum: Full steam ahead for Pacquiao the politician

Pacquiao has lost one race to become a politician in his native Philippines, but he has made no bones about wanting to give it another shot. His promoter, Bob Arum, is not one who believes Pacquiao should wait for his boxing career to end before doing so.

Arum, somewhat of a politician himself (if you get our drift), is behind Pacquiao all the way. A distraction? Forget about it.

"No," said Arum, when asked if he would prefer Pacquiao stay away from politics until his career in the ring is over. "That is something that is completely personal with him. That's something he wants to do and my job then would be to coordinate his boxing with politics, not to talk him out of a political career when it's so close to his heart."

Roach Takes Shot at Cotto Camp

Roach's credentials as a world-class trainer are indisputable. But Joe Santiago's are not. He was Cotto's longtime assistant trainer until Cotto fired his uncle, Evangelista, prior to his fight against Joshua Clottey in June. Santiago on Saturday will be in Cotto's corner as chief trainer for the second time. Also in Cotto's camp has been his strength and conditioning coach Phil Landman.

"He has no one correcting his mistakes," Roach said of Cotto. "He has a very young corner. I'm not saying anything bad about them but I love when these sports medicine guys (meaning Landman) put a towel over their shoulders and now they're boxing guys all of a sudden.

"So, Cotto's the boss in that camp, he calls all the shots. And when a fighter calls the shots, it's not the best situation in the world."

Robert Morales covers boxing for the Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram and BoxingScene.com.