In pictures: When boxing press conferences turn ugly

David Haye and Dereck Chisora shocked the boxing world when they let a verbal spat turn into an ugly brawl during a press conference in Munich in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Of course, the sport is used to seeing punches thrown outside the ring as well as in, but this time it was different. For a start, Haye was only at the session which followed Chisora’s defeat to Vitali Klitschko to goad the Ukrainian champion into accepting a fight with him.

But it was Chisora who took the bait, and in the carnage that followed camera tripods were sent flying, Haye’s manager was left with blood streaming from his face and some very serious threats were issued. German police are keen to speak to Haye over the incident, after stopping Chisora at the airport for questioning.

This was a viscious and extreme example of an old staple of boxing promotion: the press conference spat.

These range from long, drawn-out verbal exchanges followed by a blink-and-you-miss-it scrum, to the kind of simmering occasions which boil over as soon as the two pugilists step foot on stage.

Mike Tyson piling into Lennox Lewis at the Hudson Theatre in New York in 2002 was a famous example of the latter. During the melée which involved a pack of bodyguards, Tyson bit Lewis’s leg (for which he later paid $335,000 in damages) and WBC president José Sulaimán claimed to be knocked out when he hit his head on a table.

Riddick Bowe wasn’t one to waste any time either, when he came face-to-face with opponent Larry Donald in 1994. Probably not the wisest idea to have the two men share the same podium, and sure enough, Bowe landed a lightning one-two combo on Donald’s chin. Bowe’s uncontrollable behaviour did not improve and the following year he had to give a pre-fight press conference behind protective glass.

On the other end of the scale was the meeting between Nicaraguan Ricardo Mayorga and Mexican Fernando Vargas in 2007. Mayorga delivered a series of put-downs to Mayorga, calling him “fatty” and commenting on his wife, all through an interpreter. After sitting listening patiently, Vargas finally snapped and the inevitable scrap ensued.

No look back at boxing tough-talking would be complete without Muhammad Ali. On the Howard Cosell TV show, he was confronted by legendary rival Joe Frazier. “Sit down Joe” wouldn’t work for Ali, so he took matters into his own hands.