Boxing: David Haye turned my down to fight Dereck Chisora, says Vitali Klitschko

Vitali Klitschko today reminded David Haye he rejected the chance to meet in a heavyweight super fight in favour of facing Dereck Chisora.

Haye demanded a showdown with Klitschko after flattening Chisora in an explosive five-round victory at Upton Park on Saturday night.

The 31-year-old expressed his fear a fight against Klitschko would never happen because his performance against Chisora was "too good".

Klitschko, speaking in Moscow to publicise his clash with Manuel Charr on September 8, insisted Haye should have been his next opponent.

"David Haye was supposed to be at this press conference," Klitschko told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

"He had a concrete offer for a fight in September and he refused.

"He turned down a fight with Vitali Klitschko in favour of one with Chisora."

Haye opted against fighting Klitschko due to the size of the purse being offered, knowing he could make more money from settling his grudge match with Chisora.

Klitschko's manager Bernd Boente declared yesterday that the 40-year-old is unlikely to face Haye now because he hopes to launch his political career in Ukraine in October.

If he fails to tempt his preferred target into one more fight, then Haye will enter retirement for a second time satisfied by what he has achieved.

"If a fight with Vitali happens down the line, fantastic," Haye told BBC Sport.

"If it doesn't then I've been undisputed cruiserweight champion of the world and a heavyweight champion of the world.

"I've achieved more than I anticipated I would do as a youngster.

"I'm happy with what I've done in the ring and it's nice to finish on such a high.

"When I retired after losing to Wladimir (Klitschko) a year ago, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"But this time round after fighting in London in front of 30,000 of my fans, it really did put a smile on my face.

"If that's my last fight, it's one I'm very proud and happy of."

Frank Warren stated on Saturday that a meeting between Haye and Vitali would have to be staged at Wembley such would be the interest.

And the promoter believes Haye would triumph - if he carried the fight to the older Klitschko brother.

"It will happen, 100%, unless Vitali retires. If Dereck had won he'd have fought Wladimir, if David won he was going to fight Vitali," Warren said.

"Now David against Vitali is a natural fight. I was impressed with David against Chisora and he's made me change my opinion of him.

"David fights a lot off his back foot and if you do that against big guys, it suits their gameplan.

"But if you jump on them and get under that jab, the one thing they can't do is fight on the inside and deal with a high workrate.

"Vitali's an old guy now, he's 40 years of age, and Dereck has shown how he can be beaten."

PA