• Boxing

Shocked Hopkins wants to fight 'bitch' Haye

Bernard Hopkins says he knew David Haye would lose as soon as he hit the mat © PA Photos

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Bernard Hopkins, the reigning WBC and The Ring magazine light-heavyweight champion, has offered to fight David Haye with a weight disadvantage.

Hopkins is the oldest fighter to win a world title, after he beat Jean Pascal, and he even performed press-ups at the start of the round to prove he's still got it. At 46 years of age, Hopkins has preserved himself better than most, well enough - he believes - to defeat Haye.

The veteran watched with interest as Haye finally got his wish to fight Wladimir Klitschko after several years of barracking. Then, when the opportunity arrived, Hopkins insists the Brit impressed nobody.

"David Haye said a whole lot of things and he didn't deliver and that's being mild," Hopkins was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror. "You want Bernard Hopkins' response? He bitched. Haye's a little bigger than me, but I'd say it across the table. It is what it is.

"He talked himself up so much and criticised Klitschko so badly for so long. You are not talking two or three months, but three or four years.

"Eventually, people started believing it. Most people gave him a chance - I did. Then you go in there and see a guy flopping on to the floor instead of holding. I was shocked. I would fight David Haye now and give him 20lbs."

Hopkins has been in battles with the likes of Oscar de la Hoya, Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jnr over the years, and he told Haye the key is to leave the ring with no regrets.

"I believe when you've got the stage of the top of the heavyweight division, which has been in a coma for 10 years, and you have an opportunity to fight your heart out, at least show something. Even if you don't win, be in contention and you will come back.

"I don't like to question a fighter's heart but you don't go in there and flop on your knees. As soon as I saw that, I knew it was over."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.