Boxing: Klitschko calls Haye's bluff over threat to retire

Wladimir Klitschko has rubbished David Haye's threat to retire by the end of the year without fighting him, branding Britain's WBA heavyweight champion "a liar and a loser".

Haye has said he intends to quit on his 31st birthday in October but the Ukrainian, here for last night's Laureus Awards, said: "He won't because he talks of leaving a legacy – and what sort of legacy would that be without fighting either me or my brother, Vitali?

"He is bluffing, just as he always has been. I now hear he says he is going to retire and go to Hollywood to be an actor. I don't believe it. Anyway, he is already treating boxing like Hollywood, the stupid way he conducts himself."

Klitschko, 34, who holds the WBO, IFB and IBO versions of the title, claims that he and Haye, who has pulled out of proposed bouts against both Wladimir and brother Vitali, the WBC champion, in the past 18 months, had been due to meet on 2 July.

"We had agreed the contracts, the money, everything but he has still found an excuse," Klitschko said. "This is because I had committed to fight Dereck Chisora [the unbeaten but inexperienced British champion] in Mannheim on 30 April. [Haye's] reaction is inexplicable. He doesn't want to allow me to fight Chisora before I fight him but I will not be told what to do by a man who has only fought four heavyweights and whose last fight was a farce against Audley Harrison. I was happy to confirm 2 July but he doesn't want that."