Just days after announcing that he had offered a 50/50 split to reigning WBO, IBF and IBO (Alphabet Soup) champion Wladimir Klitschko, WBA champion David Haye has backtracked once more. Klitschko, already incensed that Haye had “bitched out” on two fights with the Klitschko brothers (his older brother Vitali is WBC champion) he now has once more lost the big payday he has been seeking for months.
However, reports from the UK have Haye withdrawing the offer not out of fear for Klitschko, but in search of the biggest payday of them all. A source close to the Haye camp said that though it appears like Haye has once again backed out, in actual fact he is negotiating a deal that would change the sport of boxing forever.
While all three men have exchanged public banter accusing the other (well, it’s more like the Klitschkos versus David Haye) of being feeble and a yellow belly in the ring, the source reports that this is a tactic agreed by all three parties to ensure maximum publicity for the fight. Having seen how popular multiple-participant bouts are in the WWE — along with the television audience they draw, which is the pivotal driver for revenue — Haye has arranged to fight the Klitschko brothers … at the same time.
With Vitali reportedly announcing that his retirement will take place at the end of 2010, Haye decided to make an offer that neither brother could refuse. The match will function as a turn-based clash, where Haye will alternate rounds with the brothers, and be called “The Night of Champions”. If either one knocks him out, they will fight one another to unify the world titles a week later, billed as “The Ultimate Night of Champions”. If Haye knocks out either brother, he will remain champion but also gain both of the brothers various world titles. Afterwards, the Klitschko brothers would still fight one another, except their match in this circumstance would be branded “Family Vengeance”, and delayed for a week, also for marketing purposes.
The source says that Haye was questioned by many within in his inner circle about the sanity of the decision, with the Klitschko brothers being as remorseless as Ivan Drago, who was guilty for adopting a fighting style that saw to the death of Apollo Creed, along with some of the greatest one-liners known in the fictional boxing world. The Klitschkos themselves are actually rather intelligent men, with both being the only current champions to ever hold a PhD — both in sports science — hence their nicknames of Dr Ironfist and Dr Steelhammer. They are also both avid chess players, with Vitali saying: “Chess is similar to boxing. You need to develop a strategy, and you need to think two or three steps ahead about what your opponent is doing. You have to be smart. But what’s the difference between chess and boxing? In chess, nobody is an expert, but everybody plays. In boxing everybody is an expert, but nobody fights.”
Still, as Haye’s advisers warned him, they could also beat men to death if they so wished, and with their father being a former Soviet air force colonel, know how to hang tough. Haye, renowned for the high opinion he holds of himself, replied that he wants to retire at the age of 31 (being the end of 2011) and either way, this was the best means of doing it. The source said, “David believes he can kill two birds with one stone, but when those birds are the size of the Klitschkos, that is something to consider”.
In terms of TV rights distribution, Haye will receive a 50% share while the brothers will split the other half. They will make up the losses in their follow-up fight. The reported target date for their clash will be Sunday, May 8, to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. The venue is said to be Berlin, where as the source said, “it is the ultimate place where East and West Europe meet one another”.
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