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Boxing: 'I will fight Haye, but only to silence him once and for all' - Vitali

Paul Hirst
Tuesday 12 July 2011 00:00 BST
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Vitali Klitschko would jump at the chance to knock out David Haye after revealing that he has developed a deep-rooted hatred of the Briton because of his taunts towards his brother Wladimir. Haye's dreams of unifying the heavyweight division took a huge blow 10 days ago when he was outpointed by Wladimir in Hamburg.

Haye said after the defeat that he would put back his planned retirement of 13 October if he could organise a rematch, but the IBF, WBO, and WBA champion admitted yesterday that a second contest between the pair is unlikely.

Should Haye decide to fight on, however, he now appears to have the option of fighting WBC champion Vitali. "The original reason why we wanted to fight David Haye is because he had the WBA belt, but now it's not just about the belt – it's more personal," said Vitali, who was in London to promote a film about the brothers' careers. "There is one reason why I want to fight David – because he touched me personally with his bad words. He has no respect for his opponent, he tries to duck out before fights. He always has excuses, always says bad words to my brother and to me and to my family.

"If I fought David Haye the reason I'd be doing it would be to send him to the floor, where he belongs. Then I'd look over him and say: 'What are you going to say now? What excuses have you got left now?'"

Vitali and his manager Bernd Boente will discuss with Sky whether they think the fight against Haye would be worthwhile before approaching the Londoner's camp.

Haye would almost certainly have to postpone his retirement to fight Vitali, who defends his title against Tomasz Adamek in Poland on 10 September.

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