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Haye takes aim at Klitschko pair

David Haye beat John Ruiz in his last fight in April 2010 © Getty Images

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David Haye has attempted to set the record straight over his failure to get in the ring with the Klitschko brothers, blasting the Ukrainians' choice of opponents in the process.

Haye, the WBA heavyweight champion, has not fought since beating John Ruiz by TKO in the ninth round at Manchester's MEN Arena in April. But, after it became clear a deal with either Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko could not be struck, reports have since suggested he will step into the ring with former Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison.

While that contest remains a distinct possibility, Haye has gone on record to explain why a favoured fight with a Klitschko brother has failed to materialise.

"I wanted 50-50," he said on a video for his website hayemaker.com. "I said: 'You give me 50% of the maximum of all the territories, the maximum ticket sales and the fight's going to happen.

"He didn't want that to happen. The reason being, he's tied into a television contract. He's got a multi-fight deal with television network RTL. I know there's more money to be had in Germany because I've been talking to other TV networks out there. He's not willing to put into the pot the maximum from his territory. I'm doing that but he's not willing to do that and that's totally unacceptable to me.

"I gave him an alternative. I said 'You keep your 100% of RTL money, I keep 100% of UK money. We split everything else 50-50.' No. He didn't accept that."

While talks of a Haye-Harrison fight continue to gather pace, Vitali has announced he will be fighting Shannon Briggs in October, with sibling Wladimir set to take on Samuel Peter on September 11.

And Haye, 29, was quick to make it clear that the duo were ducking certain fighters.

"I fought John Ruiz in my last fight - an ugly fighter, an awkward fighter - somebody that Vitali and Wladimir through all their fights over the years have never ended up fighting. He's someone they've avoided. The same goes for Nikolai Valuev (whom Haye beat in November 2009) - maybe because he's bigger than them!"

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