By James Slater – Only last week, the ongoing, on/off/on/unlikely Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye situation took another turn, as “Dr. Steel Hammer” said on air that as far as he in concerned the July 2nd date was still alive, and that Haye only had to agree to the date to get the big unification fight. As fans know, Haye said a while ago that no way does he believe Kitschko – who will face Derek Chisora on April 30th – will be able to fight anyone, let alone him, as soon as nine weeks after an earlier fight..
Haye and his manager Adam Booth claimed Klitschko’s decision to go ahead with the Chisora fight proves he is the one who is unwilling to get it on with the WBA champ, not the other way around. And, it must be said, what Klitschko had to say today, to Sportsvibe, will give Haye supporters some serious ammo.
Klitschko, in a quite amazing backtrack, has now said he feels it will be “unlikely” that he will be able to fight Chisora in April, Tomasz Adamek in September, and Haye, in between, in July. Just as Haye said all along, fighting again so soon is unrealistic, and now we have Wladimir saying as much himself.
“With Chisora and then possibly Adamek it’s unlikely the [Haye] fight can happen before the end of the year at the earliest,” Klitschko said. “But I’m not going anywhere and I suspect, even though Haye says he will retire, that he cannot afford to quit boxing before fighting me.”
Haye, as is well documented, has said many times he will keep his promise and retire in October of this year. It seems now, what with Klitschko’s statement that a fight between the two will not happen until the end of the year, as though the fight will not happen at all. Not unless Haye is bluffing when it comes to his retirement talk.
Fans are obviously sick and tired of the whole Klitschko-Haye saga, and this latest interview with Wladimir is unlikely to cheer them up any. Looking as far away from taking place as it ever has, a Klitschko-Haye showdown now depends entirely on whether or not Haye walks, as he says he will, before he turns the age of 31.
Either way, if the fight doesn’t happen, fans will never get a 100-percent sure idea of just who it was that ducked the other. Klitschko will claim he would have fought Haye at the end of 2011, Haye will claim he always said it had to happen before the end of October 2011!
And this is where we are now: with another potential classic appearing dead in the water.