Wladimir Klitschko wants a heavyweight title unification fight with David Haye, and he doesn't want to hear any more excuses.
Klitschko is calling out the British WBA champion, who has never followed through on repeated vows to take the title belts of Klitschko and his brother, Vitali. Wladimir is the IBF and WBO champion, while Vitali holds the WBC belt.
Although Wladimir Klitschko's representatives initiated talks with Haye's promoters Tuesday, Klitschko told The Associated Press he believes Haye will once again find a way to back out of the matchup.
``I understand he's scared, but just get yourself together, and maybe you'll get a lucky punch or whatever,'' Klitschko said over lunch at a Greek restaurant in the picturesque Larchmont Village section of Los Angeles.
``I think he's frightened and he won't be willing to take the chance, but it's important for me to say that nothing is in the way. There are no other fights. There will be enough money for everybody. He just has to do what he says he will.''
With a rising voice and a clear disdain for Haye, the normally decorous Klitschko called him a liar and a fraud who has built his career on unfulfilled promises of challenging the Klitschko brothers, who have reigned unbeaten atop the heavyweight division since 2004.
``I just don't like anything about the guy,'' Klitschko said. ``How he talks, how he walks, anything. He's basically betraying the audience and the sport. Every division deserves a true champion, and how can he claim to be a champion if he won't fight me?''
Haye has been to the verge of fighting both Klitschko brothers, getting their attention with incendiary statements about what he planned to do in both words and pictures. He memorably attended a news conference wearing a T-shirt with a rendering of Haye holding the brothers' severed heads.
But Haye never got in the ring with either brother. A potential fight against Vitali Klitschko at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge arena was scrapped, and Haye pulled out of a June 20 fight with Wladimir Klitschko, citing a back injury, two weeks before they were scheduled to meet in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
``It's obvious now that his back injury was just garbage, and he's a liar,'' Klitschko said.
Haye eventually took on 7-foot-2 Russian Nikolai Valuev, claiming the WBA belt last year. Haye hasn't stopped talking trash about the Klitschko brothers, who rarely deign to say anything negative about any opponent.
``This is the first time I've seen him this animated, this motivated, to fight just one guy,'' said Tom Loeffler, the managing director of the Klitschko brothers' K-2 Promotions.
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who helps to promote Haye, said earlier this week he would discuss the possibility of a bout in England or in Germany, where the Klitschko brothers live and fight before enormous crowds.
Haye defended his title earlier this month by stopping John Ruiz, the overachieving former champion. Immediately after the fight, Haye dismissed the notion of fighting Bernard Hopkins, but said he might have to make a title defense against Valuev.
Nonsense, says Klitschko, adding that if he can get an exception to his mandatory IBF title defense against Alexander Povetkin, whose trainer says he isn't yet skilled enough to face Klitschko, Haye could fight Klitschko if he really wanted the bout.
``He says he's going to fight Valuev, but everybody realizes I'm the most exciting fight right now,'' Klitschko said. ``He did create a lot of buzz with his nonsense, but he has to back up his words instead of (weaseling) out.''
Klitschko referred to a bout with Haye, the former cruiserweight champion, as ``a signature fight for me. My brother had a signature fight with Lennox Lewis. That's what I want. I've fought a lot of guys, but no signature fights.''
Klitschko has defended his IBF title eight times, most recently stopping Eddie Chambers in Dusseldorf on March 20. He hasn't lost since April 2004, and just two of his last 12 fights have even gone the distance.
``I want to be active, so I won't rely on the liar to fight me next,'' Klitschko said. ``But when only one person talks, people will start to believe things that person tells them. I just decided I need to get over my conservative style of handling things. I need to make it as straight as possible: David 'The Loser' Haye won't fight me.''
