Haye has 'mountain' to climb for place in boxing history

Published on Thursday 5 November 2009 21:59

DAVID Haye insists he is ready to make history tomorrow night by becoming the first British cruiserweight to step up and win the world heavyweight title.

Haye has travelled to Nuremberg in Germany to take on the Russian giant Nikolai Valuev for the WBA title this weekend.

The former undisputed cruiserweight champion has had only one top-level heavyweight contest, beating Monte Barrett by stoppage a year ago, and after an aborted bid to dethrone Wladimir Klitschko in the summer, tries his hand against 7ft 2ins Valuev this weekend.

The supremely confident "Hayemaker" expects to etch his name into the record books by emulating his hero Evander Holyfield.

"No British cruiserweight has ever gone up and won the heavyweight title, so I'd be making history," he said. "Evander Holyfield is the only other unified cruiserweight champion in history to go up and do the same thing at heavyweight.

"I've got an opportunity to go out there and equal what he did by becoming the second to do it."

Haye, 29, beat undisputed world cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck on foreign soil to take the WBC title before unifying the belts with a spectacular second-round stoppage of domestic rival Enzo Maccarinelli in March last year.

Since then he has boxed only once, stopping faded former contender Barrett in five rounds in London last November.

Haye does not expect ring rust to be a problem, however. "It's going to be almost a year to the day since I've actually been in a ring," he said.

"I've been training, though. It's not like I've been sitting on a beach getting drunk.

"I've kept in shape the whole way through, I obviously trained for the fight with Wladimir Klitschko so it's not like my body hasn't been in shape. I just didn't have the fight at the end of it."

Haye's trainer Adam Booth insists that being the "away" fighter again is no major concern. Indeed, the location for the fight was not announced until the middle of September despite the fight being confirmed in the summer.

And after Haye's seventh-round stoppage of Mormeck in Paris, Booth is confident his man will be unaffected by fighting in front of a crowd which will be strongly supporting Valuev.

"To be honest, we don't care," he said. "We've paid it no mind. All I said to them (promoters Sauerland] was 'you just need to let me know the exact date of the press conference' to schedule the training. That's all we need to concern ourselves with.

"David doesn't care if it's in front of 100 people. It's not going to be in England so it doesn't matter."

On the fight itself, Booth added: "David's attributes are his natural speed and athleticism and the fact he's naturally heavy-handed. But those attributes are only part of it.

"It's a psychological test, a physical test, a technical test, and that's what we buzz off. We buzz off a real challenge. Going into a fight you know you're going to win or is going to be easy, the motivation is always difficult.

"This one is for the world heavyweight championship as well, so we're buzzing."

Booth's counterpart Alexander Zimin, Valuev's trainer, has tailored their preparations specifically for the Englishman's style.

"During our preparations we have considered the individual manner of David Haye and also his size and weight," Zimin said.

"We have prepared very well for him. We have also chosen the sparring partners very well who are similar size to David and a similar style.

"Of course we have also used our experience from previous fights against very good opponents and did a lot of conditioning work for Nikolai generally. We've also done a lot on tactics and technique."

WHAT THE EXPERTS THINK

EMMANUEL STEWARD (coach of IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko)

"I may be wrong, but I favour David because of the speed. He is a very, very talented fighter and when we were preparing for him to fight Wladimir, I was very much amazed that he has improved so much. He is a very smart fighter, he can outbox him."

RICKY HATTON (former two-weight world champion)

"David packs a lot of power and I think he can knock him out in sensational fashion."

ENZO MACCARINELLI (former cruiserweight world champion and former Haye victim)

"Personally, I think although Valuev is the easiest of the current champions to beat, it is still a massive task for David. But he's got the style, skill and power to beat him. I do feel David can beat him and if he can put Valuev down, that giant frame is going to be hard to get off the ground."

JAMES DeGALE (2008 Olympic middleweight gold medalist)

"As time has gone on, I fancy David's chances less and less. Valuev is humongous! If he doesn't knock him out in six, I can't see it. He's not going to get a decision in Germany, is he?"

DANNY WILLIAMS (British heavyweight champion)

"I see David Haye outboxing Valuev. He's got great footwork and he hits pretty hard as well. That combination makes for a David Haye victory, I think."

FRANK WARREN (rival promoter)

"An old Evander Holyfield gave Valuev a lot of problems and a lot of people thought he won the fight. Holyfield has got a good chin though and David Haye hasn't, in my opinion. I don't think he's got great stamina either. He's got to win that fight by boxing, not looking for big shots. Haye should beat him but I'm not a big fan of David Haye either. I've got to lean towards Valuev."