World IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has reopened his war of words with David Haye, telling England’s WBA belt holder to stop talking ‘garbage’ and fight him.
Wladimir Klitschko made his declaration in the post-fight press conference after knocking out challenger Samuel Peter in Frankfurt on Saturday. Despite Peter’s holding tactics, Klitschko finally earned a technical knock-out win over the Nigerian in the 10th round.
Haye was due to fight Klitschko in June 2009, only to pull out of the fight and then beat Nikolai Valuev last November to win the WBA heavyweight title.
There is no love lost between the pair as Haye has taunted Wladimir in the past by calling him ‘Bitchko’ and wore a t-shirt with a picture of the Londoner in a ring holding aloft the decapitated heads of both Klitschko brothers.
“I hope he will stop talking garbage and follow through with his promises,” said Klitschko when asked about a possible fight against Haye, who takes on Britain’s Audley Harrison in Manchester in November in a title fight.
“I will take a break now, but I hope to have my next opponent lined up by the end of the year.
“I am getting a little tired of the name David Haye, we have been talking about him a lot.
“David Haye offended both the Klitschko brothers and not in a funny way. I don’t think it is funny to show two decapitated bodies presented on a t-shirt, which he wore in a couple of press conferences.
“I believe David Haye talked himself into the top ten of the heavyweight division, but he hasn’t accomplished a lot.”
Klitschko said he expects Haye to struggle against Harrison.
“He should win the fight, but there are a lot of doubts with Haye,” said the Ukrainian.
“Since he moved to the heavyweight division he has slowed down and he is not as fast as he was. We are going to fight the guy who is holding the title, because we are interested in the belt.”
Having been left on the canvas in the tenth round, Peter did not come to the post-fight press conference, but Klitschko praised the Nigerian, even though the African adopted holding tactics, especially towards the end of the fight.
If Haye refuses to fight Klitschko after the Harrison fight, the Ukrainian’s trainer Emanuel Steward said US-based Polish fighter Tomasz Adamek could be his next mandatory opponent.
“Haye has talked himself into a good fight, but then ran away, so he’s not even worth talking about,” said Steward.
“The most logical guy who is creating a lot of excitement and is becoming a mandatory in the WBO is Tomasz Adamek, he just beat (Chris) Arreola impresssively which I didn’t think he would do.”
Steward admits he is perplexed how hard it is to find challengers to take on either of the Klitschko brothers.
“It is strange, we have two champions and they have a problem to get challengers, I have never seen that before,” he said.