Boxing: Gold would be a Haye maker

Commonwealth Games: British amateur heavyweight hope has the ability and charisma to be a hit at highest level

There is no one of consequence left for Lennox Lewis to fight. Naseem Hamed is unlikely ever to contest a proper world championship again and as for Audley Harrison, who knows what the fistic fates have in store? So where is the next big British boxing personality coming from? The Commonwealth Games should give us a clue. The event which unearthed Harrison in Kuala Lumpur four years ago, Lewis, albeit then sporting the Maple Leaf of Canada, in Edinburgh in 1986 and a real gem in John Conteh in the same city 16 years earlier, features a new name with all the credentials for super stardom.

Introducing to you... David Deron Haye, a young Londoner who carries the clout to match his charisma.

The fact that he is at present the world's second best heavyweight in singlet and headguard is testimony to the fact that he can fight a bit. So is a rejected offer of, reputedly, half a million to turn pro. It's not that David Haye wants more money; it's gold he's after, first in Manchester next month then, if he can keep resisting the brown envelopes for another few years, Olympic bullion in Athens.

Unlike his old England international room-mate Harrison, he has time in his corner. Haye is still only 21 ("a baby for a heavyweight," he says) and still growing. Not in height – he's been a six-footer since he first sprouted into his teens – but certainly in poundage and stature.

He will still have to give away five or six pounds to anyone he meets in Manchester. But since moving up to heavyweight he has lost only once in 18 ko-dominated bouts, and that was in the final of the World Championships in Belfast last year when he admits he had "nothing left" and lost in the third after forcing his Cuban opponent to take a count after just 30 seconds. His stoutly fought silver was the first World Championship final ever contested by a Briton.

Outside the track and pool, Haye is the figure most likely to light up the Games. He'll have the male pulses pounding and female hearts fluttering as the leading man in England's 12-strong boxing squad, whose coach, Ian Irwin, talks of his fast hands and explosive counter-punching. "I have rarely seen such an extreme talent," he says.

The Catford-born Haye alternates his work-outs between his Docklands-based amateur club, Broad Street, and the hi-tech in-gym Third Space in Piccadilly with its super-model clientele where he does a bit of personal training to help cover those expenses which are not met by his Lottery grant of around £13,000.

A boxer, he says, was what all he ever wanted to be. "Mum tells me I was born with a black eye and with my fists clenched. They said I looked like a boxer then – really ugly. I was a big guy as a kid, and couldn't wait to get into a ring. But my dad made me wait until I my 10th birthday and took me down to the Fitzroy Lodge club. It was harder than I envisaged, and I got bashed up a few times. But as I got bigger I got better. And at 14 I was already a light-heavyweight."

He boxed against Russia at 17 and since then has consistently been England's youngest international. In one multi- national tournament he punched out five of his opponent's teeth so they nicknamed him "The Dentist".

At 18, he was all geared up for the Sydney Olympics after knocking out the England number one, Courtney Fry. Then came disaster when he was ko'd himself by an unrated opponent in the ABA championships.

"I thought I was a man, but really I was just a cocky kid. I'd had a string of 20-25 straight wins and thought no one could touch me, so I stopped training. The guy was a blown-up middleweight and I thought he would give me no problems. I told everyone I was going to knock him out in the second so I just wanted to get through the first, and ponced around.

"The next thing I knew I was looking up at the referee and he was saying 'six, seven, eight' and I remember thinking, 'Isn't he supposed to start from one?' I'm back on my feet and the referee is saying it's finished. I couldn't believe it. I was embarrassed. It was the only time I've ever been knocked down, even in sparring. I thought I had the best chin in the world. I argued with people that I could beat Tyson, I thought I was that invincible."

So Fry went to Sydney as England's light-heavyweight and Haye became a heavyweight, slightly older and certainly wiser. "Now me and my trainer Adam Booth pack a bag and go round the pro gyms, learning from all the top guys. The best I've sparred with is Danny Williams. I really rate him. He has fast hands, like me, and he doesn't take it easy but he doesn't take the piss, either."

He admits it is tempting to try to emulate Harrison and go for the bigger prize, the Olympic super-heavyweight title. "I'm 6ft 3in now. Currently my best fighting weight is just over 14 stones but my body is still growing. I could go up to about 16 stones comfortably in a few years."

Haye seems to be growing up in every sense. He admits to being a bit of a wild child, and took some time to get his head together after the Sydney knock-back. But he now has a settled life-style and a steady girlfriend, Natasha. "I am now a dedicated trainer, too. I haven't been in the past and that has been one of my problems."

With his Harrison-like hairdo, sideburns and goatee beard (which must be shaved off before the Games) Haye is already a bit of a media darling. He has been signed up already by a PR company whose brochure describes him as "an aspirational symbol targeted for modelling shoots with major companies". He talks as fast as he fights, too, but, sensibly all that catwalk caper is now on the back burner at least until after the Games.

It's certain he will turn pro, though he's not sure when. "I want to do so as a champion. If I come away with a gold in Manchester and there are more offers I'll see what's best for me. It may depend on how I win it." As Harrison, Lewis and Conteh will testify, Commonwealth gold is not to be sneezed at. Stand by for Haye Fever in Manchester.