Haye driven by 'hate' of Chisora - Booth
Adam Booth insists David Haye is in frightening condition as he prepares to meet an opponent he "hates".
Haye faces British rival Dereck Chisora at Upton Park on Saturday night in a heavyweight showdown mired in controversy. The rivals brawled at a press conference after Chisora's WBC title loss to Vitali Klitschko in February, the final act of a series of outrageous incidents involving the 28-year-old.
"This is personal. This is way more personal than the Wladimir Klitschko fight. That was business, but he hates Dereck Chisora," trainer Booth said.
"I've used his hatred of Dereck as fuel for training to make him do more. He wants it more. But come fight night he must fight an anonymous man and leave emotion out of it. David's got a lot of experience and has had grudge matches before. I know he can separate the two.
"David knows what's in front of him and he's sparred twice as many rounds for this fight as he has done for any other fight. He's in frightening shape and that's testament to the training he's done."
Haye will be fighting for the first time since losing his WBA title to Wladimir Klitschko in July last year.
Entering the fight as a national hero, his credibility and popularity plummeted after he blamed the defeat on a broken little toe. Booth, however, believes he deserves more credit for his performance in Hamburg that night.
"It's a shame that the toe was what the media chose to reflect on. David showed a genuine injury and got slaughtered for it," Booth said.
"It was a shame because if you watch the first six rounds it was dead even and (US television network) HBO even had David ahead. It was the second half of the fight that Wladimir used to put it away.
"David genuinely does not give a **** what people think about him, but it burns him that in the second half of that fight he didn't do what he was supposed to do. When has he ever failed to be aggressive before? Fighters are complex creatures."
