David Haye is determined to become the first British cruiserweight in history to win the world heavyweight title.

The former undisputed cruiserweight champion has travelled to Nuremberg to face Nikolai Valuevin a bid to secure the WBA title on Saturday night.

The 29-year-old has only had one top-level heavyweight contest, defeating Monte Barrett by stoppage last year, and he will take on 7ft 2ins Valuev following an aborted campaign to dethrone Wladimir Klitschko in the summer.

The confident "Hayemaker", who has riled his Russian opponent and his camp with plenty of pre-fight goading, insists he will emulate his hero Evander Holyfield and land his name in the record books.

History beckons

"No British cruiserweight has ever gone up and won the heavyweight title so

I'd be making history," said Haye.

"Evander Holyfield is the only other unified cruiserweight champion in history to go up and do the same thing at cruiserweight.

"I've got an opportunity to go out there and equal what he did by becoming the second to do it."

Haye defeated undisputed world cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck in his rival's native France to claim the WBC title before unifying the belts with a stunning second-round stoppage of Enzo Maccarinelli last year.

Despite only boxing once since then, stopping Barrett in five rounds last November, Haye is adamant he will not be rusty.

"It's going to be almost a year to the day since I've actually been in a ring," he said. "I've been training, though. It's not like I've been sitting on a beach getting drunk.

"I've kept in shape the whole way through, I obviously trained for the fight with Wladimir Klitschko so it's not like my body hasn't been in shape. I just didn't have the fight at the end of it."

Haye's trainer Adam Booth insists being the "away" fighter in front of a crowd strongly supporting Valuev is not a problem, particularly following the win over Mormeck in Paris.

"To be honest, we don't care," said Booth. "We've paid it no mind. All I said to them (promoters Sauerland) was 'you just need to let me know the exact date of the press conference' to schedule the training. That's all we need to concern ourselves with.

"David doesn't care if it's in front of 100 people. It's not going to be in England so it doesn't matter."

Buzzing

Booth also revealed the fight is a major test for the Englishman, who is "buzzing" ahead of his big night in Germany.

"David's attributes are his natural speed and athleticism and the fact he's naturally heavy-handed. But those attributes are only part of it," he added.

"It's a psychological test, a physical test, a technical test, and that's what we buzz off. We buzz off a real challenge. Going into a fight you know you're going to win or is going to be easy, the motivation is always difficult.

"This one is for the world heavyweight championship as well, so we're buzzing."