This all went Pete Tong.
Jason, the main guy at boxingtime.com who i write for, has been very busy, and isn't answering phone calls, emails etc...
The interview was done on monday, and i was hoping for it to be up by then. I sent it, but it's yet to be put up :fire
i dobt it will be up today, and will pretty much be useless after the fight tonight.
just so it hasn't turned out as a complete waste of time, i'll post it on some forums.
so here it is:
Adam Williamson: David, you are known to British fight fans, However the American fight fans may not know so much about you. Can you tell me how you got into boxing?
David Haye: It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Ever since I could walk, I’ve been punching, it was my party piece when I was a kid at school. Before I even went to school, my father used to have me punching my uncle’s and aunt’s hands, and one thing they realised is that I could punch freakishly hard. For a two year old to hit so hard, they knew I was going to be a boxer. My mum and dad are big boxing fans I remember staying up watching the big fights at home, used to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning, I just loved it. I wanted to be the guy on T.V. giving so much entertainment.
AW: Who were your boxing role models?
DH: A big one is Roy Jones Jr. He is where I want to be, I want to be recognised as the best fighter on the planet bar none. He’s a great role model outside the ring. He is positive the whole way through. He keeps his body in great shape, he lives a clean life and that shows in his fighting. He got to the top as an amateur, and as a pro has done exactly the same, and is one of the greatest fighters of all time. If I could emulate anyone it would definitely be Roy Jones Jr.
AW: You enjoyed a successful amateur career, your best achievement was when you won the heavyweight Silver medal in the World Amateur championships in 2001. However you turned pro in 2002. Why didn’t you go on to compete at Athens, where you would have been one of the favourites for a gold medal?
DH: I didn’t like the amateur set up. I didn’t like the points system, and I felt I got as far as I wanted to go as an amateur. I didn’t actually like the sport, the politics involved, the fact you weren’t allowed to wrap your hands properly, you could only use a little bit of bandage around your hands, that encourages you to break them. If I would of carried on as an amateur I could of destroyed my professional career through injury. For instance in the World Championships (2001) I boxed 4 times in 4 days, and that’s just no good, you need time to recover to get the best out of yourself. I didn’t feel the amateur game was suited to me.
AW: Your opponent on Wednesday is Arthur Williams, a former world champion. What do you know about him?
DH: I know he’s very tough and very durable and that he’ll come to fight. He’s not afraid of anybody. As soon as the fight was mentioned to him he said ‘yes please’ and licked his lips. He realises that I’m inexperienced. He’s had more 1st round knockouts than I’ve had fights, so he’s not going to be scared of me in any way shape or form. I know he is coming to fight. The more he comes to me, the more I’ll be able to show my skills. I’ll show more in this fight. Than I’ve shown in all my fights put together.
AW: Many people feel that you have bitten off more than you can chew with an opponent of Williams’ calibre after only 9 fights. How much of a risk do you see this as being?
DH: I see it as a risk. Boxing in general is a risk. It’s a calculated risk and I feel that the rewards for taking the risk are worth it. There’s no right or wrong time to take any fight. With this opponent people feel that I have bitten off more than I can chew, and that’s what I wanted, I was hoping that would be the general feeling, because people are actually going to take notice. If I box someone and people say ‘David is definitely going to beat this guy’, then who is going to care? It doesn’t mean anything. And now I’m boxing a guy that people think can beat me and I’m like ‘Yeah, great!’
People have got too used to fighter’s being protected. If you talk to people around the world about British boxers they always say ‘When you going to come over and fight some Americans?’. I spent a lot of time in America, and that’s the first thing people say. I’m not only showing the guys in Britain that I’m not messing about, I’m showing Americans. I think American people will respect me for doing this, and appreciate that I’m not the typical British fighter who has had 35 fights without taking a risk, I’m doing it as a novice. I’m a big fan of Evander Holyfield…
AW: Who fought for his first title in his 12 fight…
DH: Exactly. If you are good enough…you are good enough. It’s plain and simple. And if I didn’t feel I was good enough to move this fast, then obviously I wouldn’t do it. I’m positive in my ability. I’ve said ‘bring on the best possible opponents’ from day one. But you have to get used to the different rules (from the amateur game), I’ve had nine journeymen, a lot of people have had 3 times as many. I’m getting bored of the sport to be honest when I was fighting that calibre of opponent, I couldn’t get up for the fights what so ever. I actually boxed quite badly against a few of those, I know I’m better than that. I know if I have a quality opponent in front of me, it’s going to bring out the best in me.
AW: Do you think you will stop Williams?
DH: To be honest, I’m not really thinking about stopping him. I’m just looking at going the distance. If an opportunity comes to land one of my big shots, then obviously I’m going to take it. I trained to go ten rounds but the fight was cut down to eight for some reason, but I’ve trained for ten tough, world class rounds at a very good pace. I expect it to go the distance and I expect to beat him comfortably on points.
AW: Arthur Williams was second choice. Derrick Harmon initially accepted a fight but then pulled out right?
DH: Any top fighter is my preference. I want to fight guys that the british and American public know. I think those two are about as good as each other. Derrick Harmon I don’t think was a former world champion, where as Arthur Williams was…
AW: And Harmon was a light heavyweight…
DH: Yeah, so I feel Arthur Williams is a better opponent. Arthur Williams has come over, he’s talking the fight up, feels that he can stop me so it’s great news to me that he’s coming to win. I like my back against the wall. I think I’m different to most boxers. They like to go into fights knowing that they are going to win. That’s not what I’m in boxing for. When people don’t know the result of the fight, that’s what makes boxing exciting, and how I got into boxing in the first place.
AW: You were floored and hurt against Lolenga Mock in your 7th fight. As a result, a lot of people question your punch resistance. How confident are you of your ability to take a punch?
DH: I’m very confident. If you hit anybody with that sort of power shot on the temple, coming into the punch. If you get hit hard enough, you go down. If people want to question it, they can question it all they want. You’ve got to remember that I did recover and did turn the fight around. I’ve been hit by heavyweights. I’ve only been down twice in nearly 100 amateur fights and a short pro career. Twice isn’t a lot. But if people want to question it, it doesn’t really bother me.
AW: Carl Thompson, Enzo Maccarinelli and Mark Hobson. These are your three British rivals. Which one would you most like to fight, and why?
DH: I’d like to fight Carl Thompson because he is the best of the three. He’s the most accomplished, he’s the biggest puncher he’s the guy that the general British public want to see me fight. I get pulled up on the street all the time and people ask me when I am I going to fight him. The answer is later on in the year. We fight for the same promotional company. A fight between me and Enzo Maccarinelli wont happen, because he’s with Sports Network on SKY and I’m with a BBC promoter, Fight Academy, so it’s not going to happen.
You are looking at a realistic fight between me and Carl Thompson. We are two of the biggest punchers in the world at cruiserweight. Unfortunately he is on a six-month ban for the gloves affair*, I thought he was hard done by, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. When he gets off his ban, he can look forward to a big fight with me. That’s about as big a cruiserweight fight as you are going to get in this country.
*Note: After a BBBC investigation, Carl was banned because his gloves had been tampered with before his clash with Sebastian Rothman earlier this year. However these gloves were replaced just before the fight.
AW: You have fought twice in America, but neither of the bouts have been televised stateside. I understand that your promoter Robert Waterman has signed a deal with a Las Vegas casino to stage 4 shows a year. I assume that you’ll be appearing on some of these events?
DH: Yes definitely. Robert Waterman told me I had the opportunity to fight out in Vegas. Obviously it’s the capital of boxing so I’ll be over the moon to fight there. The way he’s going to set it up, is his British fighters against some Americans. Hopefully I can fight some top Americans on these shows.
AW: Do you know if those fights will be televised in the US?
DH: I don’t know the exact details of the shows out there but if I’m fighting a top name I’m sure it will be televised.
AW: You have sparred with top quality operators such as Alexander Gurov and George ‘Khalid’ Jones. How did those sessions go?
DH: Yeah great. I learnt a lot especially from George ‘Khalid’ Jones. He was over here (London) for two weeks and we got some real good rounds. We did about 60/70 rounds of great sparring with one another. With Alexander Gurov we only sparred twice. One was for four rounds, the other for three rounds. I got a better spar out of ‘Khalid’ Jones. That was a really good experience. That helped me get in the condition that I am in today. He’s a very fast, awkward fighter so it was really good work for me. Exactly what I need.
AW: If everything goes according to plan, When would you like to challenge for a genuine world title?
DH: It’s really hard to say. There are three champions at the moment, a lot of them are signed up with Don King. So politics could keep me out for a while. In an ideal world
I would like to box for a world title at the end of next year. If I keep progressing the way I want to progress I feel that at the end of next year would be the right time.
AW: Have you got anything you would like to add?
DH: I hope the rest of the British prospects look at what I’m doing, and look at the respect that I’ll be getting and thinking that is the way they want to go and hopefully tell their promoters that’s the way they want to go and to let them off the leash if they are good enough. That’s killing boxing today. That is one of the main reasons that boxing is not a mainstream sport because it’s not competitive. No one would want to watch a football match if you know exactly who is going to win, football wouldn’t be exciting and people wouldn’t go and watch it. If you go to a boxing show now you know who is going to win before the fight.
One thing I do like about Fight Academy (Haye’s promoter) is that you don’t know who is going to win the fights. That’s what I want to be involved in. They are looking at the future of boxing. Just this weekend you had Manny Pacquaio in a 50-50 fight, even the young Miguel Cotto. He’s fighting the best possible opponents, if I’m looking at another prospect to follow it’s Cotto. He’s not afraid to step up for a challenge and fight the best guys out there. That’s exactly the way I want to go. I feel I’m good enough to do it.
An Interview with David Haye
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MightyWarrior
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 13284
- Joined: 23 Jan 2003, 14:01
Good interview Adam. You have to like Haye, taking on Williams is a brave move so early in his career.
Here's odds on the Rivermead bill -
http://www.bluesq.com/bet?action=go_events&type_id=2835
Here's odds on the Rivermead bill -
http://www.bluesq.com/bet?action=go_events&type_id=2835
Your editor sounds a bit of a tosser, Adam. What you want to do now is create a new email address under the name of [email protected], then send off the most vitriolic and vile email to him. Watch him shit himself in his grovelling reply.
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shakermaker
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 333
- Joined: 09 Dec 2003, 11:21
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Lefthookhappy19
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 968
- Joined: 16 Apr 2004, 19:15
Harmons a damn good opponent. I seen him get stopped by O'Neil Bell a few months ago but he's still a quality operator. Great attitude from Haye. Maybe if Haye starts fighting these big fights it will shame FW into putting his prospects into better fights. Haye if he progresses is going to be a star.
I like Jason (editor) alot. He gave me my chance, and i am very thankful. This is the first time he has frustrated me, leaving the site over something like this would certainly not be loyal.bennie wrote:Your editor sounds a bit of a tosser, Adam. What you want to do now is create a new email address under the name of [email protected], then send off the most vitriolic and vile email to him. Watch him shit himself in his grovelling reply.
However, the interview still isn't up, i'm writing up a report from last night's bill this evening, i dont see the point, i doubt it will be up until next week.
I think there may be a way of me having access, and putting up my articles myself. If so, that solves the problem, and i can constantly update the page.
He's very busy. He's got an important role at K2, who are looking at legal action about all this drug stuff.
