By James Slater – Say what you want about the upcoming David Haye-Dereck Chisora grudge-match (and heaven knows, people everywhere seem to have an opinion on the “bad taste,” July 14th rumble that is fast-approaching) – but Haye seems to have a genuine, passionate dislike for his upcoming opponent, and vice-versa.
Haye, perhaps attempting to repair his own image a little, has told U.K tabloid The Daily Star that he is going to dedicate the fight to people everywhere who have been bullied by “men like Dereck Chisora.” Haye, who claims he has “always had respect for opponents as human beings,” says Chisora is pretty much the exception, as there is “nothing to like about this guy.”
It’s true in many ways that this fight has broken the old promoter’s rule of having a “good guy Vs. a bad guy.” What we basically have on July 14th is two “bad guys.” Who will the public root for? Both Haye and Chisora fell out of favour with a ton of fight fans due to the infamous Munich brawl back in February, and neither guy is what you could call hero-worshipped right now. Who knows, maybe the winner will wind up back in the public’s favour – if it’s a good, honest, fair and honourably-fought fight in the summer..
Haye is worried Chisora will “try something” in the lead-up to the fight, possibly at the weigh-in. Boxing can do without any more stupid stunts like the ones “Del Boy” pulled before his big fight with Vitali Klitschko – we sure don’t want Chisora slapping anyone or spitting at anyone! And, most importantly, we need the violence to be confined to the four squares on July 14th.
Let’s just hope the fight lives up to all the hype. Most, if not all, of the hype has of course been of the negative kind – what we need now is an exciting, classy fight that can help fans forget all the nasty stuff that is attached to this bout; the controversial fight of all controversial fights.