WORLD Heavyweight Champion David Haye goes back to his African roots in Senegal in this exclusive 15 minute film from VBS.TV. Produced by Andy Capper and Haye’s long-time friend, VBS and BBC war correspondent Ben Anderson, this latest episode of VBS Meets premiers on April 1st on http://www.vbs.tv/ , and follows Haye as he travels around the Senegalese Capital Dakar. “I first met David at my local college where I took up boxing and the only other kid big enough to spar with me was David Haye. He was 16, and he absolutely wiped the floor with me!” says Ben Anderson..
The camera follows the Bermondsey boxer as he spends an afternoon with the President, shows his support at the SOS Children’s Orphanage, and finally, a sombre day reflecting on the fate of his ancestors who were rounded up at the Goree Island slave house on the coast of Senegal. Here, ships would take the captives on a brutal three-month journey across the Atlantic to America or the West Indies where only one in six Africans would survive.
“Only the strongest survived this trip,” Haye says. “They bred them like racehorses – super-slaves – and here I am, World Heavyweight Champion of the World beating up the other guys. I guess you can call it payback!” He adds “Maybe that could be part of the reason why I’m big, strong, fast and healthy. Maybe something as tragic as this has led to me being the way I am today.”
Stopping off at the local boxing ring, the Hayemaker takes on some local boxers “It’s a toe-to-toe slugfest in here, but some of these guys have talent and raw ability to make it as professionals with the right training.”
Catch the latest episode of VBS Meets on April 1st at http://www.vbs.tv/ ahead of David’s epic defence of his heavyweight title against American John Ruiz.
About VBS.TV
VBS.TV, VICE’s online television network is the industry leader in creating original content on the web. Broadcasting over 40 shows covering news, culture, music, sport and current affairs.
Launched in 2007 by Creative director Spike Jonze, and VICE, VBS.TV has a reputation for capturing exclusive feature stories through an unfiltered lens across the globe.
The network launched with the critically acclaimed movie, Heavy Metal in Baghdad, a feature documentary that followed the only Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day. Further highlights include The Vice Guide to North Korea, clandestinely filming in the world’s most tightly censored dictatorship; the first recorded coverage of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, hunting mutant wolves in Chernobyl, and shopping for dirty bombs in Bulgaria.
VBS.TV operates 30 international bureaus, and licenses content for broadcast on major networks around the world including MTV, Sky, IFC and others. With a viewership of over 6 million per month, over 3,000 contributors and 500 employees worldwide, VBS.TV is one of the fastest growing media outlets in the world.
VBS.TV is part of the VICE, a media company launched as a ‘zine in 1994, now an unstoppable global media juggernaut featuring VICE Magazine, VBS.TV, VICE Records, VICE Films, Virtue Worldwide and AdVICE networks.