Cold war not over for David Haye

The British heavyweight boxer refused to shake hands with Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko at their press conference earlier this week, announcing that he will only shake hands with Klitschko when he visits him in hospital after the fight – brave words from someone who has only defended his WBA title twice, against John Ruiz in April last year and the little known Audley Harrison in October.

On Saturday night in Hamburg he goes up against Wladimir Klitschko in a unification bout for the WBA/WBO and IBF heavyweight titles. Klitschko has held the WBO title since 2000 and the IBF version since 2008. Boxing fans will recall that Corrie Sanders took the WBO title from Klitschko with a second-round stoppage of the Ukrainian back in 2003, but he regained that title in 2004.

Haye has stated publically that he wants to fight both Klitschko brothers before he turns 31 in October, but this is highly unlikely as elder brother Vitali is due to fight Poland’s Tomas Adamak in September.

The giant Wladimir stands at least 8cm taller than the Brit and has a substantial reach advantage which he puts to good use in the ring, with continuous jabs from a tentacle-like left arm, setting up the right cross from his nicknamed “Dr Steelhammer” right fist.

I personally doubt Haye will win more than a round or two. It is unlikely that Klitschko will knock the Brit out, so if the fight goes the distance you can expect a resounding points victory for Klitschko.

The fight will be live on SuperSport from around 10 on Saturday night and you can read my report right here on Sunday morning. – David Blood, SportsCentral