David Haye could be heading for the biggest heavyweight fight in years with one of the Klitschko brothers at Wembley Stadium after becoming the WBA champion with a majority points victory over Russian giant Nikolai Valuev in Germany on Saturday.
The Londoner failed to attend hospital to be treated for a suspected broken hand and is already talking about upcoming fights. Haye’s trainer Adam Booth revealed that discussions with Wembley Stadium are already under way following his victory and the fight could take place next summer.
"Wembley have already been on to me," said Booth. "Haye against a Klitschko, Wladimir or Vitali, would be one of the biggest fights in heavyweight history."
The sheer scale of the gate receipts from a sell-out 100,000 Wembley crowd, combined with his percentage of the pay-per-view TV subscriptions, could earn the London-born champion an estimated £20million.
But the 29-year-old Haye, who is still celebrating becoming the latest in a short line of British heavyweight champions, must first face mandatory challenger John Ruiz before contemplating such a huge bout.
"Ruiz 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," said Haye. "I feel I can knock out John Ruiz."
The fighter has already been compared to the legendary Muhammad Ali, although the similarity is more his big mouth than his boxing ability, but Haye admits he is uneasy with the comparison.
"I felt a bit uncomfortable seeing that," he admitted. "Ali is the greatest and I've had one heavyweight title win. So I've got a long, long way to go.
"As long as I am talked about in the same breath in 50 years maybe as a great heavyweight, then I will have done my job."
His fight against Ruiz will almost certainly be held at the O2 Arena with victory setting up a lucrative unifying heavyweight division fight against one of the Klitschkos. Ruiz was paid to step aside and let Haye have the chance of taking the World Boxing Association's belt from Valuev; the upside of the deal for Ruiz was the promise of a match-up with the winner.
"Ruiz is a good fighter, very underrated," said Haye. "But I will upset him pretty badly.
"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."
Wladimir, at 33 the younger of the brothers, holds the IBF and WBO versions of the heavyweight championship. But it is 38-year-old Vitali, the WBC champion and generally regarded as the world's best heavyweight, who has already made it clear he would be willing to face Haye.
Richard Schaefer, Haye's American promoter, is already excited by the potential global spectacle of a Haye v Klitschko fight.
"One of the Klitschkos against David Haye would a fight with huge global interest," said Schaefer. "For so long have we been asking for a new charismatic heavyweight champion of the world."
Last updated: 09 November 2009, 23:05
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