David Haye's good friend Andy Murray was beaten on points at Wimbledon. Now, in an exclusive daily fight diary Haye is writing for Standard Sport ahead of Saturday’s showdown with rival London heavyweight Dereck Chisora at Upton Park, the former undisputed world cruiserweight champion and world heavyweight title holder tells how he intends to lift Murray’s spirits by serving a knockout.
For an athlete to become truly great, they require world‑class competition, the kind that motivates and forces them to improve their game.
For example, Andy Murray has come along at a time when his peers are some of the greatest players to ever pick up a racket.
He has had to work that extra bit harder to keep up and, as we saw on Sunday at Wimbledon, he’s getting closer and closer to winning that elusive Grand Slam title.
He’s now a world-class athlete, on the cusp of one day becoming a true great.
Andy is a close friend of mine, and a massive boxing fan, and it was tough watching him fall just short on Centre Court against Roger Federer. He played as well as he ever has, and yet the great Federer still found something extra. Great champions have a knack of doing that, just when it’s needed.
If he had been around in any other era, there’s a very good chance Andy would have had a Grand Slam or two to his name already.
Unfortunately, he’s come along at a time when Federer, Rafael Nadal and now Novak Djokovic are challenging the idea of perfection in tennis and setting records left, right and centre.
The good news is, Andy’s clearly improving and, if patient, will definitely win Wimbledon at some stage, perhaps even in 2013. After his heroics this year, my money’s on him, for sure. Knowing Andy’s huge interest in boxing, it will be my pleasure to put a smile back on his face with a devastating knockout victory on Saturday against Dereck Chisora.
Andy and I spent time together in Miami last year, and we’ve been close for a few years now. I follow his career closely and vice-versa. We swap texts of encouragement from time to time and, although our sports are very different, there are still similarities.
We are both highly determined, single‑minded men who compete in an individual sport, without the help of team-mates or people to blame. Whether in victory or defeat, it’s all on us.
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At times, the boxing ring and the tennis court can feel like the loneliest places in the world. It felt that way for me last year, and I’m sure Andy felt lonely out there on Centre Court on Sunday. But I know better times are around the corner — for both of us.
Haye vs Chisora is live on BoxNation (Sky Ch 437, Virgin Ch 546). More details can be found at www.boxnation.com
