According to the BBC, WBA heavyweight titleholder David Haye is once again in negotiations with WBO-IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko for a heavyweight showdown scheduled for July 2nd. This move represents a major shift in Haye’s position, although it still does not mean the most anticipated clash in heavyweight boxing will come about.
As previously described by Pro-boxingfans.com, the most recent push to put the Hayemaker and either one of the Klitschko brothers into the same ring collapsed when Wladimir (who was now on point for this fight) signed to fight Derek Chisora in April. Short of an insurance policy taken out to guarantee Haye’s payday and paid for by the Klitschkos, Haye was right to balk at committing to fight Klitschko in July at that point. If Wladimir had been cut by Chisora or hurt in what would be his second training camp in a very short space of time (and the odds of something like that happening were high), Klitscho would have canceled or postponed and Haye would have lost half the year trying to accommodate Wladimir’s schedule.
As I said at the time, that sort of thing just isn’t done in professional boxing. If anyone should have been made to wait and submit to the vagaries of the sport, it was Chisora.
After rejecting Wladimir’s unreasonable and unprofessional scheduling, Haye moved on to schedule a fight with his mandatory challenger, WBA #1 contender Ruslan Chagaev. However, the “White Tyson” cannot get a boxing license in the United Kingdom, due to his Hepatitis B-positive status. With his May bout against Chagaev all but sunk (outside of the UK, the fight is a money loser), Haye is now forced to look around for a new dance partner. So, the July 2nd date with Klitschko might have some potential after all.
However, Haye still insists that if Klitschko goes ahead with Chisora, it is highly unlikely he would stay in for the July 2nd fight date with him. Even so, for so many reasons already described in detail, it is most unlikely the July 2nd fight date will ever come to fruition. Klitschko seems determined to fight the 14-0 Chisora come what may, and Haye will most likely put together a tune-up for sometime in the summer.
