Haye eyeing Klitschko clash

DAVID HAYE is seeking a unification fight with one of the Klitschko brothers before the end of the year after completing his first successful defence of his WBA heavyweight title.

The 29-year-old Londoner retains plans to retire before his 31st birthday, but now has WBC heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko or IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in his sights after beating challenger John Ruiz at the MEN Arena on Saturday.

Haye, however, concedes an agreement to fight either one of the Ukrainian brothers is some way off.

“They’re the guys that hold other title belts, so in an ideal world I’d like to snatch their belts off them and add them to my mantle,” he said.

“(The fight is) not that close at the moment. In an ideal world it would happen by the end of the year. I want those big fights, I want the fights that the fans want to see. We’re going to start sitting around the table. They’ve both got fights coming up, so once they’ve got their obligations out of the way, we’ll sit down and thrash it out. Whenever we do get in the ring, it’s going to be an amazing fight.”

Haye defeated Russian Nikolai Valuev in Germany last autumn to win the title and a second bout with ‘The Beast from the East’ is a possibility.

When asked if he was contractually obliged to take part in a rematch with Valuev, Haye added: “Potentially. It’s not 100% guaranteed. It’s more a fact of whichever fight out there makes more money I can go for.

“If a fight with Valuev makes more money, then my promotional partners will edge me to that direction.”

Bernard Hopkins also stated his wish to take on Haye after beating Roy Jones Jr in Las Vegas on Saturday.

But Haye dismissed the prospect. He said: “Bernard Hopkins is one of my idols. Looking back at his fights, he’s always been a great fighter.

“But now he’s 45 years of age, he fought another 40-year-old on the same night as me and it was a dire fight for everybody there in attendance. I think he just wants a big pay day, to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world he can demand big money.”