It touches on how Vitali not being a man of his word and the Klits being awful negotiators. Interview courtesy of fightnews.com Q&A: Nikolai Valuev! Photo: Sauerland Event By Alexey Potapov WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev has given an exclusive interview to Fightnews.com in which he speaks about his upcoming fight against former WBC/WBA/WBO cruiserweight champion David Haye on November 7th in Germany. It had been previously announced that Haye would fight against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on September 12, but the British hope then decided to challenge for Valuevs title instead. Hello, Niko! I am glad to see you again! Hi, Alex! Fightnews.com best regards! Niko, news about your fight with Haye has left many shocked. How quickly did you make a decision to take this fight? Negotiations were conducted very quickly. It didnt take long for me to think about and agree to this fight. I am sure that Im better than him. You knew that Haye would pull out of the fight with Vitali Klitschko? Yes, I knew about it, but Vitali has not followed through on his promises. Several months ago Vitali and I spoke by phone and agreed to have a fight between us. Then Vitali stopped speaking to me. I communicated this to my promoter and they informed me that Klitschko doesnt wish to fight me. What should I do after that? Wait? But by the time of this fight Ill have not fought for nearly a year. A strong contender is necessary for me. I have chosen Haye. Unlike Team Klitschko, we have quickly come to an agreement with him. Now having selected Vitalis planned opponent, do you think this could cost you a fight against the Klitschkos? If the Klitschko brothers wish to claim all the titles, they should fight me. Haye hasnt always proved to be a gentleman. You know about his t-shirt depicting the chopped-off heads of the Klitschko brothers. Are you ready for such treatment? I think that will only make it worse for Haye! He will not distract me from my psychological balance. I have immunity to such things. And if he does manage to provoke me, he will be held responsible in the ring! Why have you have chosen Haye? Hes not the official challenger on your title. Its my voluntary defense and I can fight with whomever I want. The WBAs mandatory challenger John Ruiz is protesting the fight and demanding through his lawyers that the WBA not authorize a fight between you and Haye. Who is John Ruiz? To me its scandalous that he lives all his life in court in front of a judge. Ive already beat him two times. Im much stronger than him. He is not interesting to me as a challenger! What about the fact that Haye has had only one fight in the division since officially moving to heavyweight? He was the world champion at cruiserweight. He is very fast and dangerous, but I know that Ill win. Ill look at his fights, Ill study him. I know he likes to talk for long amounts of time, but I will make the fight short. Haye has stated that he refused the fight against Klitschko because of a bad contract. What conditions did Haye demand? I dont know. Ask my promoter. But I think it wasnt the money. I know that Klitschko offered bad conditions for Haye. I even looked at the contract. These conditions were awful! The Klitschko brothers think only of their own benefit when make contracts for their opponents. When you will begin preparation for fight? For two weeks Ive been preparing for the fight. Now Im preparing in Russia, then Ill have my main camp in Germany. Are you afraid that Haye will pull out of the fight as he did with the Klitschko brothers? No. After dealing with Ruslan Chagaev, now Im not afraid of anything.
I used to keep in touch with some in Valouev's camp years ago. He was fighting for only $2,000 per fight at the time. He is a very nice person and his boxing ability is very underrated. Roy Jones, Jr. showed Valouev on HBO years ago, he was very impressed with him. If this fight happens, Valouev should have no problem knocking Haye out. Valouev can punch very hard whenever he wants.
good read cheers achilles. was anyone else reading his answers with a deep russian giants voice in their head?
Did you read the first line? It's about the way people tend to hear the speaker's voice in their head even with the written word, that's all. Sorry if that fell flat for you.
Do you also know why he often doesn't want to? I actually had this impression that he didn't want to be in the ring during most of his recent fights. When he was a contender and fought people like Paolo Vidoz or Clifford Ettienne, he was a pretty good fighter.
Valuev needs to sell this fight and being nice just doesn't cut it...get with the program Nick,start with the smack straight away and live up to the beast from the east label