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Haye bemoans broken toe

David Haye was left to rue a cautious approach in Hamburg © PA Photos

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Report: Haye taught brutal lesson
Comment: Haye all bark and no bite

Wladimir Klitschko appeared to offer David Haye a rematch after the Brit blamed a broken toe for his underwhelming performance in Hamburg.

Haye slumped to a resounding points defeat as Klitschko dominated the fight from start to finish, using his size and reach advantage to control the contest behind his jab. Haye was unable to get on the inside of his opponent, and appeared excessively cautious for long periods, particularly in the early stages of each round.

At the conclusion, Haye claimed that he stopped sparring three weeks ago as he suffered an injury during his final preparations.

"I felt I could get past his shots, I felt I could make him pay, but I couldn't push off my right leg, I broke my toe about three weeks ago," Haye said. "I've been giving it local anaesthetics in the gym on hitting the mitts, that's why I stopped sparring a lot earlier than I would have done. I didn't let anybody know.

"I'll show you my toe now - it's busted. I couldn't explode. My Hayemaker wasn't there. I couldn't push off my right foot and land that shot. It was really frustrating. There's nothing worse than seeing his chin there, trying to throw it and falling short because I couldn't explode. I was actually thinking of pulling out but didn't want to let down fans."

Haye, who is still planning to walk away from boxing before he turns 31 in October, came under fire from Klitschko, with the Ukrainian accusing him of failing to live up to his inflammatory language prior to the bout.

"I'm still not okay with his behaviour before the fight," Klitschko said - although the fighters did shake hands at the conclusion. "It's definitely disgraceful to the boxing fans and to the sport of boxing, the way the man behaved himself. Right now after the fight, I think the fight talks for itself.

"He's been criticising all of the opponents and also he's been criticising me for being whatever, cautious, but he was more cautious than any other fighters. He was very fast and I didn't get the real and true challenge that I had the opportunity to knock him out.

"He connected with a couple of punches but I wasn't hurt at any stage of the fight. I continued to fight the way I fought all 12 rounds. He criticised all my opponents but he ended up in the same situation."

Meanwhile, Haye's trainer Adam Booth blamed the referee, Genaro Rodriguez, for his fighter's defeat. Haye found himself pushed to the canvas on several occasions, one of which was controversially ruled as a knockdown by Rodriguez.

"I'm disgusted with the referee, absolutely disgusted with the referee," Booth said. "He counted him when he got pushed to the canvas instead of saying something. Decided to give David a standing count.

"I let my feelings be known to him at the end because I'm not just going to be one of those people who feel they have been wronged but walk away without saying anything. It's not right and it's not fair. I ain't got a problem with the decision, but I've got a problem with the referee. I don't like him but it is what it is."

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