David Haye is eager to spar with young heavyweight Tyson Fury ahead of his showdown with WBA title holder Nikolai Valuev in November.
Briton keen to work with his compatriot in build up to Valuev
David Haye is eager to spar with young heavyweight Tyson Fury ahead of his showdown with WBA title holder Nikolai Valuev in November.
Former undisputed cruiserweight king Haye will take on the 7ft 2ins Russian giant in Germany on November 7 in only his second fight in the heavyweight division.
Fury, meanwhile, who was fortunate to maintain his undefeated record when awarded victory in his last fight against John McDermott, has long complained about a dearth of willing sparring partners.
And at approximately 6ft 8ins tall he could provide Haye with a good opportunity to test his skills against a much larger man.
"If Tyson Fury is available, then yes," Haye said. "I'm around at the moment and if he's got a fight coming up I am more than willing to spar with him. He doesn't have to pay me, that's for sure!
"If he wants to come down and do some work with me I'd more than appreciate it and I'm sure he would also."
Confidence
Regardless of whether Haye gets Fury in the ring or not, the Londoner's trainer Adam Booth is confident his charge has the skill to adapt to Valuev's size.
"I don't necessarily think Valuev's style is wrong for David," Booth said. "He's always thrived on taller and bigger opponents and ever since he was young he has always sparred with people heavier than him.
"But we're not underestimating Valuev. There's an easy, obvious statement to make about Valuev that he's big so he's slow.
"But he's actually not that slow, if you look at the tapes of his left hand. And he's very effective at going 12 rounds.
"Although he's even admitted himself he is still learning to box, he's only got to be a certain percentage of what other fighters have to be because he's got those attributes of his height and his weight to carry him along.
"You have to look at what he does best, not what he does worst, so we'll prepare David for what Valuev does best and then have the answers for that."
