Haye vows to knock out giant Valuev

[rwilli1]

Haye vows to knock out giant Valuev



Tue Sep 22, 6:52 PM

NUREMBERG, Germany (AFP) - British challenger David Haye has vowed to knock-out WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev when the pair meet on November 7 - even if he is struggling to find sparring partners tall enough.


At 2.18m high, Russian giant Valuev is a hard man to punch due to his exceptional height, but former cruiserweight Haye, who measures 1.91m, says he can knock the champion down.

"I believe I can knock him out," Haye told a press conference here at the Arena Nurnberger Versicherung.

"I will take the title home with me."

Haye admitted finding training partners to match Valuev's height would be difficult.

"It is hard to find sparring partners that are as tall as him," said the 28-year-old.

"But we will find some. This will be a true David-versus-Goliath battle. I am much faster than him and I will win."

The Russian giant certainly holds a different view having been named WBA champion in July after previous belt-holder Ruslan Chagaev was forced to pull out of a re-match between the pair in Helsinki last May.

"Even though I have not fought for quite a while, I did not sit back and relax," said the 36-year-old Russian.

"I only had to take this long break because Ruslan Chagaev could not fight me.

"I have started my preparations for the fight at the end of June. In the past weeks I have been preparing specially for David Haye.

"He is a strong challenger but he will not beat me."

Haye has made a habit of making big statements: he famously insulted IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko by calling him "*****ko" before their fight in June was cancelled after Haye withdrew with a back injury.

The former undisputed cruiserweight champion then looked set to fight Klitschko's brother Vitali, the WBC champion, only to walk away from negotiations at the 11th hour to fight 7ft 2in Valuev instead.

But Valuev is looking for a big victory to underline his status as world champion.

"I will go back to Russia for a couple of days before returning to Berlin for sparring," he said.

"Haye will try to edge me with his speed but I am prepared for that. He will not get my belt.

[samson]

If anyone remembers this giant slug Valuev from that farce vs Holyfield they won`t waste their time or their good sense by tuning in to this "fight". It`s like watching an aging Andre The Giant trying to wrestle before he passed.