World Heavyweight champion David Haye told Sky Sports News why he decided to fight Audley Harrison.
Haye vows to retire Harrison
World heavyweight champion David Haye told
Sky Sports News why he decided to defend his title against Audley Harrison.
Haye, 29, will take on 2000 Sydney Olympics gold medallist Harrison on November 13 at Manchester's MEN Arena, live on
Sky Box Office, in a contest that pits the two former friends and sparring partners against each other.
Haye opted to face Harrison after failing to secure a bout against either WBC champion Vitali Klitschko or his brother Wladimir, the WBO and IBF holder - even though he believes his opponent is undeserving of a title shot.
"Everybody want to see this - I get more messages and emails about people wanting me to fight Audley than anyone else," said Haye on
Sky Sports News.
"The British public know who he is, they have seen Audley for the last 10 years and is a household name. They genuinely want me to destroy him. They have heard him piping up in the press but they know what I have achieved and they have seen what I have done over the years representing Britain in the best possible way.
"I have done my part and he hasn't and people are sick of that. There is nothing worse than people who have not achieved anything trying to drag me down and take my name. People do not want him to carry on boxing and they want me to be the one to close the show on him."
There is no need fo any extra spice in this fight as the former friends genuinely have a dislike for each other with Haye saying that Harrison is jealous of his success.
"I think it is all jealousy," added Haye. "He won the Olympics in a blaze of glory and said he would be the heavyweight champion and he has not achieved that.
"He has just talked a load of nonsense - he got a deal with the BBC and just fought as many bums as he could fight. He was directly responsible for stopping boxing on the BBC. People hold him responsible for that as they should.
"He has seen me achieve my goals and he is delusional - he truly believes he is going to beat me when he has never done anything in his career to suggest that he can do that.
"It is up to me to show the difference in class especially between the heavyweight champion of the world and the European champion - which is the best he can claim."
No surprises in store for Haye
Haye is well aware that in heavyweight boxing one punch can change a fight. And while he believes that Harrison is not in his class, he will be training harder than ever before for this fight.
"I know when he is effective and I know what makes him a good fighter - and on his day he can be. I know what attributes he has that have made him successful to a certain degree.
"I know why he has fallen down in the past. I have seen him and I have trained with him and I know what he is like mentally. He is going to be unprepared for what I am going to bring to him.
"There is nothing he can do to win this fight because I am going to train harder than I have ever trained before. When I am in the gym training I am going to be putting in twice as much than I normally do because the humiliation of even not looking good against Audley Harrison is a no-no.
"I am not even considering losing this fight," added Haye. "I have worked too hard to be beaten by someone of the calibre of Audley Harrison. I am not only going to beat him, I am going to humiliate him, I am going to destroy him and I am going to retire him.
"I am going to have to be better than ever for this fight. He has got his chance but he is not going to be able to do anything with it, I am going to expose him once again, I am going to destroy him."
