The confident boxer might have dreams of becoming a film star but Audley Harrison could punish any lack of focus
It takes a certain kind of rock-solid confidence for a boy from Bermondsey who has never had an acting lesson to declare straight-faced: "I'm going to be a movie star, break Hollywood. I'm going to be the next action hero."
But, as opponents, critics and fans alike know, the WBA heavyweight champion, David Haye, has never lacked for self-belief, even if the expression of it has sometimes carried him beyond the boundaries of good taste. Hollywood might think they have a ready-made villain in the 30-year-old Londoner.
"I've had a few offers," says Haye, as he unwinds the wraps on his hands after another sapping workout at his sauna-like gym on the southern bank of the Thames. He is sharp, physically and mentally, talking in his machine-gun way about everything from "The Rock" and Vinnie Jones to his one-time friend Audley Harrison, whom he meets in the second defence of his title in Manchester on 13 November.
Haye welcomes the distraction of discussing life after boxing, and is clearly capable of juggling several items of interest in his head at the same time. He talks like he fights, energetically, generating a buzz around him that few fighters have. He is not only a fine champion but a canny salesman, a genuine entrepreneur, as Harrison would admit after landing the biggest part in his own melodrama of a career.
Haye would not be the first world heavyweight champion to try acting. John L Sullivan, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis and, most recently, Mike Tyson have been there. Haye, though, sees himself in the mould of Dwayne Johnson, who has morphed from The Rock with WWE into a genuine movie star.
"Although boxing is a sport," Haye says, "it's still entertainment. You've still got the fear, press conferences, the stare-downs. It's all an act in some ways. My whole life I've been doing it. I love this side of boxing ? as much as the actual fight.
"To step away from that and not put on these performances, whether in the ring or in front of a camera, I definitely feel there would be something missing from my life. That's why acting is for me. I want to be out there performing. I'm a showman. But I'm very cool under pressure. The bigger the pressure, the sharper I am, the more in tune with my body I am, the better my tactics seem to be. A lot of people crumble under pressure, they do something crazy."
Form, history and pedigree suggest Haye will handle it better than Harrison after a build-up that has been unusually nasty. It has given the fight an edginess and the MEN Arena will be sold out. For Harrison, who is 39, it is a last chance. For Haye, defeat would wreck plans that he and his manager, Adam Booth, have crafted carefully in recent months. Hollywood will have to wait.
"I've told them all that I'm retiring next year," Haye says, "but I'm going to focus 100% on my boxing. This next year is huge for me with the mega unification fights [against the Klitschko brothers] so it would be crazy to try to mix the two. Lennox did that and came unstuck [knocked out by Hasim Rahman a few weeks after filming a cameo role in the remake of Ocean's Eleven]. You learn from other people's mistakes, and Hollywood is not that important at this stage."
If Haye is making a mistake of his own in looking past Harrison, the former Olympic gold medallist sounds as if he is in the mood to remind him of his error. He clearly was not happy with Haye for demanding he return to London from his Californian mountain training camp to hype this promotion and has been in an uncharacteristically mean mood in the gym.
Big fights always generate rumours and, according to Spencer Fearon, the former London light-middleweight making his way as a promoter, Harrison "sparked" four sparring partners at his Real Fight Club gym in Liverpool Street on Thursday night.
It would seem on that evidence that the challenger is at least coming to this fight in the right frame of mind. Reproducing that intent when it matters, however, has often been beyond Harrison in a professional career punctuated by a few convincing wins and four defeats.
If Harrison is serious, and if Haye doesn't go in with stars in his eyes, it could be a candidate for fight of the year.
Should Haye win, as widely expected, he has a mandatory defence against Ruslan Chagaev in February or March, followed by more tortured negotiations with Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, who hold the other belts. And then, by this time next year, it is off to Hollywood. It is some journey.
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