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'Bitterly disappointed' Haye breaks silence on brawl

David Haye appeared to punch Dereck Chisora during their press conference brawl in Germany © Getty Images

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David Haye has confessed he was "bitterly disappointed" with his role in the weekend's brawl with Dereck Chisora, and he vowed to aid boxing authorities with any resulting investigation.

Haye has been missing since Saturday night's fracas with Chisora, which saw the two Brits become involved in an ugly scrap at the post-fight press conference to Chisora's WBC heavyweight title bout with Vitali Klitschko.

The two boxers came face-to-face after a verbal row, and then fists appeared to be thrown - in addition to a piece of camera equipment being hurled through the crowd of media. Haye's manager Adam Booth appeared to come off worse, bleeding from his head as the fighters were separated.

Police detained Chisora in the aftermath of the incident, questioning the fighter regarding his threats to "shoot Haye". Police also want to speak to Haye, who has since been absent, but he has now broken his silence.

"Moments before declaring he wanted to go face-to-face with me, Chisora assured the gathered media that he would give me 'two slaps'," Haye explained. "Chisora had, of course, already been shrouded in controversy that weekend.

"Despite this, Chisora climbed down from the top table, removed his robe and then walked towards me, entourage in tow, in an aggressive manner. I held my ground, but, unfortunately, he caused a serious disturbance to occur, something which threatened to damage the reputation of the sport we both love.

"Regrettably, some members of his entourage also encouraged the chaos. Nevertheless, Chisora and I soon separated, brushed ourselves down and moved in opposite directions. The confrontation then reignited, however, and both (Chisora's trainer) Don Charles and (Haye's manager) Adam Booth became involved in the mess. Adam suffered a cut to the head.

"Thankfully, it didn't take long for the ruckus to again settle down. It was then that I heard Chisora say he planned to 'shoot me dead'. I decided to leave the venue and return to my hotel, a move which I hoped would defuse the situation.

"However, Chisora's team were staying at the same hotel as me and, in light of the threats Chisora had made in front of the world's media, it seemed far more appropriate for me and Adam to leave the hotel as quickly as possible.

"Consequently, I left Munich on an earlier flight on Sunday morning and have been thinking about what happened ever since, as well as replaying the incident many times via YouTube. It goes without saying, I am bitterly disappointed to have been a part of what transpired on Saturday evening."

Haye has so far been unreachable to the police, but he insists he will happily answer questions in order to sort out the fallout from the weekend's incidents.

"I realise I am no angel - and don't mind a bit of professional trash-talk to help raise boxing's profile - but, during my 21 years in the sport, I have never been involved in, or even witnessed, such a serious fracas," Haye said.

"If requested, I shall happily assist the boxing authorities with any investigation they wish to launch and, ultimately, hope that all lessons learned from this incident will be implemented."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.