THE ANIMOSITY BETWEEN boxers David Haye and Dereck Chisora reared its head again today.
As the countdown to Saturday’s grudge fight continued, both fighters got involved threw verbal punches. The pair clashed at a news conference in Munich in February, after Chisora lost to WBC champion Vitali Klitschko, and will now fight at West Ham’s ground.
“I’m going to be the craziest I’ve been when I come in the ring,” Chisora said.
But Haye replied: “Dereck’s getting knocked out quick. The harder he comes, the quicker he gets KOd.”
Neither boxer currently holds a British boxing licence because of the brawl so the fight has been sanctioned by the Luxembourg Boxing Federation. Chisora predicted this week that he would knock Haye out in round seven, but the former world heavyweight champion believes he is in his best-ever shape.
“My training has been good. I’m healthy, fit and fast,” Haye said. Haye’s trainer Adam Booth believes his fighter’s genuine dislike for Chisora has helped his training schedule.
“This is personal,” Booth said. ”He hates Dereck Chisora. I’ve used his hatred of Dereck as fuel for training to make him do more. He wants it more. He’s in frightening shape and that’s testament to the training he’s done.”
The credibility Haye lost with his wide points defeat by Wladimir Klitschko 12 months ago – which he subsequently partially blamed on a broken little toe — will be shattered should he lose to Chisora. And while crushing Chisora — a man he hates — will prove satisfying, he knows history will be indifferent to the victory.
“Beating Chisora won’t add to my legacy. In 50 years time when people look back at my career they won’t see this fight and think Dereck Chisora was a great fight and look what David did to him.
“Chisora doesn’t have any titles and has been coming off three losses. It’s a fight for the night, simply because I beat him up at a press conference a few months ago. There is no doubt this fight is happening because of the brawl we had in Germany.
“Without that he’d have been another anonymous Klitschko victim. After I knock him out, he’ll go back to being a nobody.”
