• Boxing

Haye trainer accuses Klitschko camp of dirty tricks

ESPN staff
July 4, 2011
David Haye's music was playing in the arena, but he didn't come out when he was scheduled to © Getty Images
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David Haye's trainer Adam Booth claims the Wladimir Klitschko camp employed underhand tactics during the heavyweight unification showdown in Hamburg on Saturday.

Although Booth concedes Haye was beaten by the better man on the night, he says his charge's chances were harmed by a series of damaging stunts, as well as the broken toe which prevented Haye from putting 100% into his shots.

"If David had been cut during the fight and needed stitches, lidocaine would have been used as a local anaesthetic to numb the pain but instead I was handed a bottle of ephedrine - which is a stimulant," Booth said.

"That would have seen him fail a drugs test and I feel I was deliberately given the ephedrine. There were plenty of other things that went on to try to upset our composure - there was a TV cameraman in our corner blocking my view of the fight. Even on the way to the ring it was going off.

"We should have been going down the path with the barriers but for some reason we were directed by Klitschko's people and I was sent one way and Dave the other through the crowd. If our security wasn't there David would have been squashed. He had people trampling on his toes on the way to the ring.

"Why didn't they send us the right way through the barricades? They did it to unsettle us."

Haye was not entirely innocent either when it came to mind games, having delayed his entrance to the ring by ten minutes - although he insists his reasons for doing so were injury-related.

"People are asking why I was delayed getting to the ring and the answer is I had a local anaesthetic to numb the pain from a toe on my right foot I damaged during training," Haye said. "It was supposed to last two hours but it lasted maybe 35 minutes. As I was going out I couldn't walk on it and thought: 'Oh s**t, I need another injection'.

"Then I had to wait to make sure I didn't go into a shock because I'd had double the dose in such a short space of time. I was struggling to walk to the ring but I was telling myself to ignore the pain. Maybe my luck ran out because I'd rolled the dice too many times with previous injuries and always managed to fight properly."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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