Haye happy to play underdog

DAVID HAYE is “enjoying” his role as the underdog in Saturday’s heavyweight superfight against Wladimir Klitschko because he believes victory will be all the sweeter as a result.

The 30-year-old WBA champion is notoriously cocky and outspoken but has historically backed up his boasts by undertaking tough challenges and coming out on top.

His two biggest wins, against Jean Marc Mormeck for the cruiserweight world title in 2007 and Nikolay Valuev for the WBA heavyweight crown in 2009, took place on foreign soil against heavy betting favourites. On Saturday in Hamburg he ventures into hostile territory again to face 35-year-old Klitschko, the long-standing IBF and WBO champion who holds significant height and weight advantages. But Haye (25-1, 23KOs) would not have it any other way.

“I’m enjoying that. It means you get more credit afterwards. If I was heavy favourite, then what is there to do? You beat him on points and people say ‘you could have knocked him out’.

“This time around everyone thinks I’m going to lose and that’s great! But to the people who are writing me off — just make sure you give me my dues after the fight and don’t start saying ‘Wladimir wasn’t all that, he’d been beaten before’, et cetera. Just say ‘okay, we thought you were going to lose and you proved us wrong’.

“I haven’t got a problem if someone thinks Wladimir is going to beat me. I don’t take it personally, it’s just their opinion. Just make sure you give me credit after I beat him.”

Haye, like Klitschko (55-3, 49KO wins), will spend the remainder of this week in Hamburg ticking over until the first bell on Saturday night.

The Londoner can focus solely on the fight now after the main press conference was held on Monday rather than the more usual Wednesday or Thursday.

Tickets for the fight have not quite sold out yet for the clash at the 50,000-plus capacity Imtech Arena.

Thousands of fans are travelling to Hamburg while interest in Sky Box Office’s pay-per-view broadcast has been huge, with Boente, head of Klitschko Management Group, saying: “I think 7,000-8,000 fans from England are coming. We hoped that would be the case and that they would come because they always bring a good atmosphere wherever they go, be it boxing, soccer or other sports.”