Boxing

CRUNCH WEEK FOR KLITSCHKO MEETING

20 March 2009

John Prendergast
johnp@southwarknews.org 

The on-off saga surrounding David Haye’s summer showdown with Wladimir Klitschko has now reached a critical moment, as the giant Ukrainian has stated that negotiations will not go beyond this weekend.

The world title bout, mooted to take place on June 20 in Berlin, has see sawed constantly since the beginning of the year with the latest statements from the World Champions camp saying they have set a March 21 deadline before dropping the deal.

However the difficult negotiations, according to Haye's camp, are no longer stuck on money or venue but simply on the amount of the Bermondsey man's subsequent fights his opponents want to control.

A spokesman for Haye said: "They are saying they want control over four fights after this bout, which for a Heavyweight can mean two years of his career which will virtually take David up to retirement.

"When they were fighting (Hasim) Rahman you can bet they didn't insist on that for him so it shows they are worried about David, but they cannot have that kind of control over his future."

The deadline may well be in both fighters’ interest, as Haye has been out of the ring for five months now in pursuit of both Klitschkos and was looking to keep more active following his five round win against Monte Barrett last November. Klitschko has said he will pursue American Chris Arreola, who is due to fight in April against Jameel McCline, should the Haye deal fall through.

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