Defend him from what?...the story is at best a feed from Harrisons camp with no direct quotes from Haye/Booth or at worst completely made up
Id be very shocked if he offered Audley a £ 1 Million straight up...:nono Probably a bit less I feel...
Tony, mate - the article clearly states that Matchroom have offered Haye the £1m to fight Harrison. Despite the misleading title (deliberately so, in fact) there nothing that suggests Haye has commented or agreed to anything. More likely is that Matchroom and Harrison are hoping this makes them a more attractive proposition than Adamek in case the Klitschko fight doesn't come off.
the timeline I see is this. 2008 March - Haye unifys the titles at Cruiserwieght. Vacates stating he will move up to Heavyweight and clean out the division and KO the boring Wladamir Klitscko. April - Haye confronts Wladamir Klitscko demanding a fight with him despite 1 round of Heavyweight expirience. Klitscko tells him he has to earn his chance, and he must complete is mandatory commitments. July - Wladamir beats WBO mandatory Tony Thompson. Says he wants Haye after his next mandatory October - Vitali returns to beat Sam Peter for WBC title November - David Haye makes his fulltime Heavyweight debut, beating Monte Barret. K2 attend and see the 02 arena half full. Haye says he wants either brother. December - Wladamdir beats Hasim Rahman after mandatory Povetkin withdraws through injury. David Haye attends the fight after posing in a magazine with a depacitated head of Wladamir in his hand. 2009 January - Haye promises British fans that a fight with either brother will happen in June at Stamford Bridge. Wladamir states he wants to fight in March, but wants Haye so accepts the June date. February - The fight in the UK falls through. Negotiations begin for a fight in Germany for a fight with Wladamir. Hayes team say the terms offered by K2 are poor. March - Haye signs to fight Wladamir in June despite the poor terms offered. Haye shows up to the press confrence 60,000 tickets are sold for the fight in 2 days. HBO backs the fight. April - Vitali beats mandatory Juan Carlos Gomez May - Haye pulls out of fight with Wladamir due to injury. Weeks later Setanta (who were paying Haye) go out of business. HBO pulls out of the fight. June - Wladamir beats Ruslan Chagaev for the the lineal title infront of at least 55,000. Wladamir is injured in the fight and will be out for the rest of 2009 July - Negotiations begin for Haye vs Vitali. He is ready to agree to the same deal offered previously to fight Wladamir August - Haye pulls out of negotiations to fight Vitali and signs to fight WBA champion Nikolai Valuev in Germany. Does not inform HBO or Goldenboy. The majority of his pay is from British TV (Sky PPV) and there is an option for a rematch and he must face John Ruiz in his 1st defence September - Vitali beats the next highest contender Chris Arreola in the US November - Haye beats Valuev in Germany for the WBA title. Says he will win his mandatory and then knock out either Klitscko brother. Haye vs Valuev does massive PPV numbers making Haye an instant multi millionaire and the biggest star in UK boxing. December - Vitali beats Kevin Johnson in routine defence. Haye declares the fight as boring and agains states he wants either bother. 2010 March 20th- Wladamir beats mandatory Eddie Chambers. Says he wants to fight David Haye April 4th - Haye beats Ruiz, tells everyone he wants to fight the Klitsckos now his mandatory is out of the way. April 8th - Haye dismisses Harrison as a potential challanger for his belt, says he only wants the Klitsckos. April 10th - Harrison gets lucky agaisnt Sprott, tells everyone he will defend agaisnt Dimitrenko to earn his shot at a champion. April 14th - Adam Booth dismisses Harrison as a potential challanger, says he wants the Klitsckos. Says its unlikley Valuev will take up the option of a re-match and Sauerland will go for the most viable option. April 21st - Reports emerage that HBO has verbally commited to a Wlad vs Haye unification April 22nd - The IBF declare a 30 day deadline for a Haye vs Wlad fight to be arranged. April 24th - Steve Kim reports that Sky Sports are pushing for a Haye vs Harrison fight. May 1st - Wladamir releases a video officioally calling out David Haye May 5th - Adam Booth responds to video joking that the the Brothers should fight each other for the right to face Haye. Says he will only accept a 50-50 offer May 13th - Mike Costello tells BBC that a fight between Haye and a Klitscko is looking unlikley May 22nd - Deadline for Haye negotiation with the IBF is over. Wlad must arrange a fight with Povetkin within 30 days or confirm a fight with Haye, if not he is stripped of his title. May 27th - Adam Booth tells BBC that they are negotiating with Klitsckos, Harrision and other parties. He says Wladamirs mandatory is a K2 problem not theres. Barry Hearn confirms his team will speak to Adam Booth about a fight with Audley in the coming weeks. May 29th - Vitali beats Albet Sosnowski and tells everyone he also wants to fight Haye June 4th - Dan Rafael quotes K2 advisor stating "Haye has been offered 50-50 with no options" to fight Wladamir and that there has been no response. Hayes camp have yet to deny this offer was made June 7th - Audley Harrison vacates his European title to free himself up for a fight with David Haye or a Klitscko June 8th - Adam Booth says Audley would be a terrible fight for boxing but admits theres a possibilty of a fight. Says they are still negotiating with Audley and the Klitsckos June 9th - Wladamir Klitscko vs Alexander Povetkin is rumoured to be scheduled for September June 10th - Richard Shcaefer says they are waiting to hear from Sauerland about a them taking up the Valuev option. June 11th - K2 say they would never fight Audley Harrision, again stating there desire to fight haye June 15th - Povetkins trainer says the Klitsckos are still negotiating with David Haye. June 17th - Reports in the British press state Harrison is ready to fight Haye on November 13th for £1million on November 13th, which fits to Skys plan for a major PPV with Mayweather vs Pacquiao. you really cannot look at it in any other than Haye is ducking a fight with the Klitscko brothers. He is either scared, or wants to milk his title for everything its worth by conning the British public.
it doesnt clearly state that mate. its very vague from either side, you could see it as a haye offer or a matchroom offer, theres nothing clear about it.
Getting a few paydays in before a unification (if thats even what Haye ends up doing, theres no evidence of it yet) isn't "milking a title for everything its worth", its just being sensible and doing what most fighters in that posistion would do. I know you'll say Haye "called out" the Klits and so has lied to the boxing public (and thats probably true) but thats just "welcome to the real world" IMHO. It happens. Don't let this get like that Willie Limond "thing" from a while back....
Yeah but the thing about Haye,the great thing about him actually,was that he wasn't like every other fighter,he had a special attitude and portrayed himself as a thowback saviour. Now he seen the $$$ signs, its clearly obvious he's not special. He's a loud mouthed fake. Barrett/Valuev/Ruiz-come on. Even his wins at cruiserweight are extremely over rated(good tho) but i'm not going to go there.
I don't think it's vague at all. It's just a matter of paying attention to how it's worded: He's agreed an offer. Not signed a deal, but agreed an offer. the next part finishes the story. The offer has come from Matchroom to Haye. It's absolutely clear. It's not likely he'd have to get back to Matchroom about his own offer, is it? Matchroom have offered Haye £1m to fight Audley. Haye hasn't responded.
:thumbsup Think about this so far he has fought Barrett, Valuev, Ruiz and now possibly harrison.. all the while avoiding challenges from both brothers... Boy he sure is backing up his talk about fighting the best... Anyone notice that there seems to be a pattern of only fighting old 36 + fighters who have recently lost :think