• Boxing news

Haye admits Klitschko fights may not happen

WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is in a hurry to unify the division © PA Photos

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Chisora has little chance of Klitschko fight - Haye
  
• Profile: David Haye

David Haye has reiterated his desire to quit boxing when he turns 31 next year but, with time running out to strike a deal to fight one of the Klitschko brothers, the WBA heavyweight champion has admitted he may be forced to look elsewhere for his next challenge.

With Dereck Chisora's bout with Wladimir Klitschko looking increasingly unlikely to be rescheduled after the Ukrainian was forced to withdraw through injury, the chances of Haye stepping in the ring with the IBF, WBO and IBO title holder have been given a huge boost.

However, if Haye fails to reach an agreement with Klitschko, the Briton accepts he may not realise his dream of unifying the division before hanging up his gloves on his birthday in October.

"I'm going after Wladimir first, he holds the IBF WBO and IBO titles so it'd be a big scalp to relieve him of those," said Haye.

He added in an interview with the BBC: "I'll retire in October next year - if [the fight] doesn't happen next year it won't happen, I'll just have to accept that becoming the WBA champion was enough and move on with my life.

"That'll be 20 years of getting punched in the face, which is a long enough time. I set my goals and achieved them so unifying the titles is the cherry on the cake but if it doesn't happen it wasn't meant to be and I've just got to get on with my life.

"I'll have to look out for good challengers. The mandatory challenger is Ruslan Chagaev, who is an awkward southpaw, but I've come off the back of training for a southpaw after the Audley Harrison fight. It wouldn't be too hard to put that fight together and I'm sure he'll jump at the chance of challenging for the world title, but he'll get the same treatment as everybody else."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.