Haye: Klitschko bout in 2011

DAVID HAYE has promised the boxing public he will fight the Klitschko brothers in unification blockbusters before retiring next year following Saturday night’s farcical blow-out of Audley Harrison.

The WBA heavyweight champion had a bittersweet evening in Manchester, easily destroying fellow Londoner Harrison in a fight which did nothing more than enhance his bank balance.

The three-round victory over the hapless Harrison infuriated the MEN Arena crowd and pay-per-view customers, while doing nothing to boost Haye’s worldwide standing.

The contest with Harrison happened simply because defining fights with WBC champion Vitali Klitschko and IBF/WBO holder Wladimir have still failed to come to fruition. Haye believes all parties want the fights to happen and as he’s planning to retire in 2011, he is certain they will take place next year.

“We’ll sit down and try to make it happen. We were talking to them before the fight, but things didn’t go the way we wanted them to go,” Haye explained.

Asked about Wladimir – generally perceived to be the fight likeliest to happen first – Haye added: “It has to happen in 2011. I retire in 2011, so the fight has to happen. I know I can beat him, while he, I’m sure, believes he can beat me.”

Haye maintained throughout the build-up to the Harrison fight that his fellow Londoner was not deserving of a title shot and the fight was made simply because of the public’s interest in a former Olympic champion.

Haye started tentatively before stepping up the pace and knocking Harrison to the floor, leaving the 2000 Olympian with few remaining options and surely staring at retirement.

Harrison looked like a frightened rabbit from the first bell, freezing in the third when Haye began leaping into shots. One furious barrage put him down and when he got up, the violence continued. Referee Luis Pabon halted the action one minute 53 seconds of the third round.

Meanwhile, Manny Pacquiao has cemented his place among boxing’s greats by recording an unanimous points victory over Antonio Margarito to claim the vacant WBC super welterweight title on Saturday.

The 31-year-old southpaw dominated all 12 rounds at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas to land an eighth world title in an unprecedented eighth weight class.

“It was a really hard fight, the hardest fight in my career,” Pacquiao said. “He’s strong. I never expected him to be as strong as he was. He’s a very tough fighter and I can’t believe he took all those punches.”

The Filipino pummeled the Mexican’s head virtually at will for much of the bout, leaving his opponent with a puffed left eye and a cut under a badly swollen right eye, and eventually gained one-sided verdicts from all three judges – 120-109, 118-110 and 119-109.