I Did It My Haye

[Chambers2]

I DID IT MY HAYE

BOXING: He landed blows, and now he crows... Next stop top match maker, says David
By Tom Hopkinson, people.co.uk

David Haye reckons he'll become the Golden Boy of British promoters - much like he became the golden boy of the cruiserweight division.

On Tuesday, the undisputed world champion moved into the promoting world with the launch of Hayemaker Boxing, and immediately announced a five-year US tie-in with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions and a two-year deal with Setanta Sports.

And Haye declared: "I'm established, I'm world champion and I've shown I know the right route.

"When I turned pro and said I was going to do it on my own and not sign a long-term deal with anybody, everyone had a pop.

"They said: 'You're mad, you're not going to get the breaks, you're just going to be black-balled, people won't work with you, you don't sell enough tickets, you've got to do this, you've got to do that...

"I did it my way and within 22 fights I'm undisputed champion of the world, I'm one of the most exciting heavyweights on the planet.

"I've got a promotional company with Setanta behind me, working alongside Golden Boy - the biggest and most successful US promoter, generating more money for pro boxers than at any other time.

"What more could I have done in 22 fights? I know what I'm doing and my resume speaks for itself."

Haye will headline on four of the 10 bills in the Setanta deal and his first fight at heavyweight is likely to be against Hasim Rahman at London's 02 Arena in October.

He has snapped up a couple of promising amateurs in George Graves, Michael Maguire and Leon Williams on professional contracts.

"It's a simple strategy," added Haye. "Pay the fighters what they generate, plain and simple, don't try to steal from them. Give the fighters what they want and they will make that pot bigger and your small percentage will end up bigger.

"That's exactly what Golden Boy do, and it works a treat.

"They've done it by empowering the fighters, by putting the control back in their hands, asking them who they want to fight and giving them the lion's share."

The Londoner added: "I spoke to Golden Boy directors Shane Moseley and Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright and Ricky Hatton.

"Bernard laid it out as clear as can be - at this stage of his career he's earning the lion's share for the first time in his life.

Good article that lays our Derons plan. I can't fault him, hopefully he'll become the UK's GBP

Whether you LOVE him or loathe him you've got to admit he's got balls as BIG as Mitre size 5's

[Autobarn]

I really hope it works out. A fighter who made sure to gun for real world titles at cruiser and who aims to do the same at heavy...you can't imagine his top fighters sitting on minor, made-up belts, can you?

It all sounds great in theory. Hopefully it works in practise. Ppl are saying Haye shouldn't try to make too many enemies, but Setanta & GBP (and by implication HBO) are already behind him.

Haye's halfway there - he just has to deliver in the ring and deliver for his fighters (and have his fighters deliver for him, too). If he does well, British boxing will do well, because his competitors will surely want to beat him.

One worry - if he wants to raise the fighters' earning power and raise his percentage for promoting them, if he empowers the fighters...what's to stop them clearing off and promoting themselves? They will have to be earning very nicely indeed. Does Haye plan to introduce British PPVs for instance? Is this against Setanta's policy? Just about everyone with true superstar potential has gone it alone at some point, Lewis, Naz, Hatton, and will Haye be the last?

[Chambers2]

I hope that Haye will be willing to work with other British promoters when the needs arise, such as when his debutants are upto to British title level and the belts are held by Maloney, SN, MH or FA fighters. The trend for UK promoters has been not to work with each other, meaning we the fans miss out on very important fights, so I really hope that Haye can cntinue his mould-breaking in this aspect of the sport

[josh fg]

Where do we think this leaves Hennessy sports? They were a strong promotional outfit who always had the best shows compared to Warren because they put there fighters in competitive matches, however they have lost Hide and Eastman, with Thaxton and Witter loosing and Joe Murray looking not to be all he's cracked up to be they are realistically only looking at Froch with selling power, do we think they will be able to pull in the new exciting talent with Haye offering similar hard matches and a television deal!

[Autobarn]

Barker and Murray are good talents. Barker can really get developed with that Commonwealth title; and if there's a British title in sight, Murray will start looking sharp, ruthless and efficient in there again. Froch has his world ranking and impressive punch power/charisma & Thaxton's had a decent little run on the British title scene. I don't know how badly he's been hit by the pullouts of the opponents in high quality fights, and Witter's world title loss. I would think if Hennessy focuses on Witter winning another world title it's the road to nowhere, because Witter won't be selling tickets or helping secure TV deals even if he wins another belt. But if the young talent get developed, and if Froch gets a vacant title fight soon, then you'd think he'll still be a force.

I read in BN that Barker could be fighting in Canada on the Showtime ShoBox series. This could make it easier to secure a solid opponent for Barker as guys like St Juste and Jantuah never ended up getting the assignment, did they?

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

I used to love training and trained intensely daily before I ran my own business. Now I run my own business I don't have the time or energy for it. Focusing on promoting will distract Haye and take energy away from his boxing. He has poor stamina as it is and when he has less time to train expect him to focus on the weights and power/explosive style training. He will be a good 3-4round fighter but after that he'll gas out and get KO'd again. If he focused on his stamina work and put long hours into training he could be something special but oh well

Jack of all trades master of none.

[Autobarn]

Maybe so PN but surely Haye has considered this already. Also, if he's a professional - like he is - then there must be a way round that kind of thing.

[josh fg]

I used to love training and trained intensely daily before I ran my own business. Now I run my own business I don't have the time or energy for it. Focusing on promoting will distract Haye and take energy away from his boxing. He has poor stamina as it is and when he has less time to train expect him to focus on the weights and power/explosive style training. He will be a good 3-4round fighter but after that he'll gas out and get KO'd again. If he focused on his stamina work and put long hours into training he could be something special but oh well

Jack of all trades master of none.

Surly haye will be much more the front man and provide the ethos while adam booth and some other money men will do all the seriouse business, I can't imagen haye organising individual fights and overseeing cards at least not until he's retired!

[stujones]

I used to love training and trained intensely daily before I ran my own business. Now I run my own business I don't have the time or energy for it. Focusing on promoting will distract Haye and take energy away from his boxing. He has poor stamina as it is and when he has less time to train expect him to focus on the weights and power/explosive style training. He will be a good 3-4round fighter but after that he'll gas out and get KO'd again. If he focused on his stamina work and put long hours into training he could be something special but oh well

Jack of all trades master of none.

Cannot really say its adversely affect Oscar a massive deal.

[Chambers2]

Hayes going to need a good team around him to sort out the promo side of things, so that he can concentrate on boxing