Dillian Whyte has branded David Haye as the 'biggest bully in boxing'
Dillian Whyte on David Haye: "I've always believed I could have beaten him." Whyte is preparing for a rescheduled rematch against Alexander Povetkin with a target date of January 30.
Tuesday 10 November 2020 06:15, UK
Dillian Whyte has branded David Haye as the "biggest bully in boxing" after the retired world champion accused him of targeting the "weak guy".
Haye claimed that Whyte called him out in the aftermath of his final loss, a fifth-round knockout defeat by Tony Bellew at The O2 in May 2018.
But Whyte insists his feud with Haye stems back many years ago, and he had been targeting a fight since the ex-WBA heavyweight champion returned to the sport in 2016.
He must have seen something that he thought he couldn't beat, or maybe he knew that I'm tough and I'm strong and I'm physical, and I was hungry.
"I've always tried to fight David Haye, because he was the top guy at the time and obviously when you're coming up as a young fighter, you aspire to fight the guys at the top," Whyte told Sky Sports.
"I wanted to fight him to see how good I was and see how well I fare against him. I've always believed I could have beaten him.
"If you go back and look at my Twitter feed, I've been calling David Haye out for a long time. Long before he fought Bellew. When he fought Arnold Gjergjaj, I was trying to get him from then.
"He must have seen something that he thought he couldn't beat, or maybe he knew that I'm tough and I'm strong and I'm physical, and I was hungry.
"When you believe you can beat someone, you know deep down you can beat someone, it makes you dangerous and you approach the fight with a different mindset and mentality, and he knows it."
Haye had accused Whyte of a poorly-timed challenge, saying: "Maybe Whyte is the type of guy who sees the weak guy. Derek Chisora goes after the toughest guy.
"I always wondered why he called me out as I was coming out of the ring, busted up and concussed.
"That, for me, said a lot about Dillian."
But Whyte issued a scathing response, telling Sky Sports: "Listen, David Haye is the biggest bully in the whole of boxing.
"That guy has conned his way through his boxing career, ducking and dodging, and picking fights. Saying stuff and belittling people to get fights made.
"There's lots of fights that he should have had that he didn't have, even as a cruiserweight."
