David Haye: I've beaten one giant but this will be even more explosive

13 April 2012

Leading up to the biggest fight of his career, WBA world heavyweight champion David Haye is writing an exclusive daily diary for the Evening Standard. In this, his first entry, the Londoner considers the scale of the challenge that confronts him, in the shape of Wladimir Klitschko, and offers rare respect for the IBF and WBO title holder.

I write this while mid-air en‑route to Hamburg, Germany, ahead of Saturday's world heavyweight title unification fight with Wladimir.

As I look out the nearby window and daydream about what I plan to do to the giant Ukrainian fraud, I can't help but come over in goose pimples. I live for moments like this. The bigger, the better. The more that seems to be on the line, the more I thrive on the sense of risk and reward.

Despite having competed in numerous world title fights - at home and abroad - I'm aware this is the biggest test of my career to date. I may not have had many good things to say about my opponent in the lead up but I respect his ability and consistency inside the ring and realise he will present me with certain challenges I must overcome on Saturday night.

Consequently, I have never been in better shape for a fight.

Also, my past experiences abroad only increase the confidence I have going into this fight. As I'm sure you will all remember, I have been here before, in Germany, and defeated a man far bigger than Klitschko in another fight where everybody seemed to write me off.

I outboxed and stripped the seven-foot Nikolay Valuev of his WBA world title in Nuremberg two years ago. I'll look to do something similar to Wladimir on Saturday, albeit in far more spectacular fashion.

Then I'll be hopping back onto my private jet on Sunday so I can be at the Wimbledon men's final, where - fingers crossed - I'll be cheering on Andy Murray to the title.

Germany has been good to me in the past and I'm sure that will continue this week. The fans there are fair and appreciative of good skills, and are a world apart from the raucous and vocal crowds you get at boxing events elsewhere across Europe.

They sit and applaud and then sip glasses of champagne in between rounds. They treat boxing almost like theatre and I've no doubt some of the stuff I have come out with in recent weeks will have disturbed them.

They are not used to a challenger like me, somebody who talks the talk and walks the walk and doesn't mind saying what he thinks. Of course, it goes without saying, Wladimir won't be ready for what I bring to Germany this week. He is used to seeing his opponents turn up in awful physical and mental condition, having left their pride and ambition at the airport on the way over.

Well, I've got news for Wladimir. I remembered my passport, boarded my private plane and picked up the suitcase that contains the key to ending his miserable grip on the heavyweight division.

Saturday's showdown between Haye and Klitschko is exclusively live on Sky Box Office HD and 3D. Go to www.sky.com/orderboxoffice

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in