Ruiz 'no trouble' for Haye

New WBA heavyweight champion David Haye believes he can unify the heavyweight division - after taking care of John Ruiz.

Haye's dream of landing a portion of the heavyweight title came true on Saturday night with a points victory over Nicolai Valuev, but now he wants to complete the set.

That means beating the Klitschko brothers - IBF and WBO champion Wladimir and WBC belt holder Vitali - after making a defence against mandatory challenger Ruiz.

The American has held the WBA title in the past but has been consistently slated for his boring style, something that Haye is confident of overcoming.

"I feel I will knock out John Ruiz after beating someone 7ft 2in tall. Someone who is a foot shorter and the same weight as me, it will feel like another cruiserweight fight," he said.

Unified

"Ruiz is a good fighter, very underrated. But I will upset him pretty badly. He is the mandatory challenger for the WBA title so if I don't fight him they'll take the title from me, and I don't fancy giving it up after winning it.

"He's not the most entertaining of former champions but he's won championships on several occasions and you don't do that through being a bad fighter. I don't feel I'd struggle with him in any way, though.

"I said I want to be unified champion and the Klitschkos are definitely in my sights. I am not fussed which one it is.

"Whichever one is available, we'll sit round a table and make it happen. Fingers crossed they retain their titles and we can have a huge, huge, unification fight."

Haye saw fights with both Klitschko brothers fall by the wayside this year, having to withdraw from fighting Wladimir after suffering a back injury and then failing to agree terms with Vitali.

However, manager and trainer Adam Booth believes both fights can still be made despite the bad blood between the Briton and the borthers.

"As far as the Klitschkos are concerned they can sit back and wait," he said.

"They have to deal with their business first and David has to beat Ruiz. But if they can talk respectfully and sensibly we can do a deal."

Vitali will defend his belt against unbeaten American Kevin Johnson in Switzerland next month, while Wladimir is likely to make a mandatory defence against another American, Eddie Chambers, in the New Year.

Gameplan

Reflecting on his majority points victory over Valuev, Haye says he proved to everyone that he deserved to take the title away from the Russian.

"I'll always be landing punches, he was missing aimlessly," he added. "It was like shadow boxing, he couldn't hit me. He didn't know how to do it.

"We knew he could get frustrated and miss. I wanted to put on a masterclass. I have knocked out 21 out of 22 opponents, this time I showed a different side of myself. People didn't know I could stick to a gameplan for 12 rounds.

"There wasn't a doubt in my mind until one judge gave it 114-114. I thought 'what the hell was going on?'."

Haye injured his right hand early in the fight but did not yet know the extent of the damage.

"The right hand is pretty bad, I'm going for an X-ray," he said. "When I hit Valuev on the chin it was like hitting someone on top of the head.

"Then he licked his lips. I had to be sparing with my right hand after that. But I was technically and tactically sound."