WBA heavyweight champion David Haye has ruled out defending his
title against veteran Bernard Hopkins, a boxing great he said is
one of his idols.
Two days after stopping John Ruiz in nine rounds, Haye said
Monday he is trying to line up a unification fight against one of
the Klitschko brothers, Vitali or Wladimir, who hold the other
heavyweight belts. He may also have to meet former champion Nikolai
Valuev in a rematch of last year's title contest.
But Haye said a fight with the 45-year-old Hopkins, who beat
Roy Jones Jr. in a lopsided non-title fight in Las Vegas on
Saturday, was not in his thoughts.
``Bernard Hopkins is one of my idols. Looking back at his
fights over the last 20, 25 years, he's always been a great
fighter,'' Haye told the BBC. ``But now he's 45 years of age, he
fought another 40-year-old on the same night as me and it was a
dire fight for everybody there.
``I think he just wants a big payday, to fight for the
heavyweight championship of the world he can demand big money.''
Haye said he may have to wait until much later this year or
even into 2011 to face one of the Klitschkos. Wladimir holds the
IBF and WBO belts and Vitali the WBC title.
``It is not that close at the moment. In an ideal world it
would happen by the end of the year,'' Haye said. ``I want those
big fights. I want the fights that the fans want to see. We're
going to start sitting around the table. They've both got fights
coming up, so once they've got their obligations out of the way,
we'll sit down and thrash it out. Whenever we do get in the ring,
it's going to be an amazing fight.''
Haye outpointed the 7-foot-2 Valuev on Nov. 7 to claim the
WBA title from the Russian, who said he had agreed to a mandatory
rematch once the British fighter had beaten Ruiz, a two-time former
champion.
``Potentially. It's not 100 percent guaranteed,'' Haye said
about the possibility of meeting Valuev again. ``It's more a fact
of whichever fight out there makes more money I can go for. If a
fight with Valuev makes more money, then my promotional partners
will edge me to that direction.''
