? Haye may never fight Klitschko, says manager Bernd Boente
? 'Wladimir didn't want this fight' says Haye's agent
David Haye may never fight Wladimir Klitschko after the Ukrainian's manager, Bernd Boente, claimed the WBA heavyweight champion is refusing to meet his client, who holds four versions of the title, on 2 July.
Haye and Klitschko were in negotiations to clash early in 2011 but the 34-year-old announced he will now fight Dereck Chisora on 30 April, a rearrangement of the match-up the Ukrainian pulled out of before Christmas due to a pulled stomach muscle.
While this caused Haye's manager, Adam Booth, to say "Wladimir should feel ashamed of himself", Boente claimed that negotiations had broken down due to a clash over television dates.
"[German TV] RTL and Sky could not find a date as Sky did not want a second pay-per-view date in April because they already have the Amir Khan fight then. Wladimir was not prepared to wait nine months [he last fought in September] until a fight in July so he [meets] Dereck Chisora. Our door is open for David Haye to fight Wladimir on 2 July. But from what I hear Adam Booth is not accepting that Wladimir will have a fight before then and so at the moment it will not happen."
While a Sky spokesman declined to comment and Booth could not be contacted, he did say earlier in the day: "There were lots of people that know Wladimir really didn't want this fight yet. It's a shame. It's embarrassing for boxing that the unification fight isn't going to happen now because David's bent over backwards. We've conceded to every single ridiculous demand they made.
"From the start they said 50-50. David said fine, even though potentially we're putting in the pot three or four times more than they're putting into the pot because of pay-per-view Sky Box Office. David still said: 'Let's get the fight done 50-50.'
"They said the fight had to be on their German broadcaster even though our German broadcaster was prepared to pay more. We said fine. They said: 'We're not coming to England for the fight.' David said: 'Fine, I'll go to Germany.' They said: 'Wladimir has to be in the red corner, Wladimir has to come in second, Wladimir's name has to be first on the poster,' and all these other ridiculous, egotistical things. And David said: 'Fine, have it, just get him in the ring with me.'
"The last thing was, here is the date we now have, we said yes, Sky have approved that date and they turn round and said: 'We're now doing Chisora.'"
Haye claimed last night that he will not now share a ring with either of the Klitschkos though given the confused history of his attempts to fight them it remains moot what will occur.
"If the fight doesn't happen now, it never will. I'm done with the Klitschkos. I know I can retire later this year with my head held high, knowing I did everything in my power to make these fights happen. I've had defining fights and beaten the best in the world as a cruiserweight but without me Wladimir can never say he's done the same as a heavyweight.
"He claims he'll fight both me and Chisora but it's nonsense. Are we expected to believe that a fighter who competed only once in the whole of 2009 and twice in 2010 is now going to box twice in a matter of nine weeks?"
No comments:
Post a Comment