• Steve Bunce

Vitali's price right for Haye

David Haye, like everyone else in boxing, has his price © Getty Images

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When David Haye hung up his gloves, my feeling was that it was definite, and he wouldn't fight again… Until there was a really good offer on the table. And judging by what his manager Adam Booth has been saying recently, it seems there might be a really good offer on the table from Vitali Klitschko. I think the Klitschkos were already talking with Booth when Haye retired in October, and I think they've been in contact since then.

My gut feeling that the major moves have come from the Klitschkos' people, or from mutual friends who were probably 1% closer to the Klitschko camp. So don't worry, both Haye and Vitali will be able to stand up and say they didn't instigate the talks.

I think what's clearly happened is that the more Haye and Booth played tough in negotiations, the more they refused to return calls, the more they insisted David was retired, the more the money has gone up. And now it seems to be a figure that has caught David's attention. In boxing, everyone has their price: until two years ago, there was a figure that would have tempted Lennox Lewis back.

There will be people who think Haye has dipped his toe into retirement, and not liked what he's seen. What he's found on the celebrity circuit is that it's fleeting and there's no money in it. I'm sure he has been offered some film roles as a hard man who stands in the background; five days filming, getting peanuts in return. To make it big in acting, you've got to work for years, it's like boxing in that way. He hasn't got the patience.

But all that said, I don't think he's had enough time to really find retirement - since leaving Germany after losing to Wladimir in July, what's he done differently from normal? Nothing. You find retirement when you put on a bit of weight, or when you find a pattern of life away from boxing. You find retirement when you get a bit older in your head. He has been in the gym and even in the ring moving around with fighters.

For that reason, I don't think he's starting from a position of weakness if he does decide to fight Vitali. It's not like he's been away for years, he won't have extra weight or excessive rust to shake off. Also, he is not coming back from a vicious series of beatings.

If this fight's made tomorrow, he will train from tomorrow until the fight. He'll go away for heat training in Miami, he'll get back to doing this or that in the gym, he'll train harder than he ever has.

We know he won't be bigger than he was against Wlad, because he'll want to be quick in order to take advantage of a slower Vitali - but it remains to be seen whether his brain will be any better. Will he have learnt anything from the loss to Wladimir? I don't think so. People have been getting in and out of the ring with the Klitschkos for years - nobody learns from fighting the Klitschkos. They are technically very difficult to fight, even for the best boxing minds. They are, as Haye admitted, faster than they look.

Even if he loses to Vitali, I still maintain he'll come back once again if the price is right. He just wants to make some money, and there's obviously a shedload on the table.

That's not to say that he wasn't sincere when he said he retired. He was retired; he is retired. But money talks. I have no problem with him fighting on again and again. I will have a problem when he looks and moves and sounds like the great fallen idol James Toney.

Amir's award
Amir Khan was voted boxer of the year at the British Boxing Awards on Sunday; he was only up against Carl Froch, really. Khan has got the nod for beating Marcos Maidana in a classic towards the end of 2010.

Froch had a good claim to the award, because he picked up an impressive win against Arthur Abraham during the same boxing 'season'. Is Abraham better than Maidana? Yes he is. That's fact. Was the Froch fight better than Maidana v Khan? Probably not. Maidana v Khan was the better bout, but Abraham is, by quite a distance, the better boxer.

The British people love Amir Khan, as simple as that, and at the end of the day there has to be a degree of popularity involved. Is Carl Froch as popular as Amir Khan? No, probably not. Bottom line is that he's not as popular or as well known as Amir Khan, so Khan won.

Return of the Mac
Enzo Maccarinelli returned to the ring with a first-round win against Gyorgy Marosi on Friday - but he's going to have to come through at least one, and probably two, very close 50-50 fights before getting a world title shot. It's a long way off and he knows that he will have to fight for the right.

If he does get one, he will have earned the right to get in that ring.

Steve Bunce is co-host of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption show. Click here for more details

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