David Haye

David Haye is a British boxer. He is the WBA heavyweight champion and is nicknamed "The Hayemaker". He is 1.91 metres (6 feet 3 inches) tall. Before he became a heavyweight, he boxed in the cruiserweight division, where he held all the major titles. His most famous cruiserweight fights were against Jean-Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinell. He has lost only once in his career.

Haye moved up to the heavyweight division and beat Monte Barrett in 2008. In October 2009, he beat Nikolai Valuev, who is 7 feet tall, to become the WBA champion. In 2010, he beat John Ruiz.  He defended his title against fellow Briton Audley Harrison in November 2010.

Career 

Haye started his career as an amateur. He reached the finals of the 2001 world amateur championship in the heavyweight class, where he lost to Odlanier Solis. He turned professional in the cruiserweight division in December 2002. His first professional fight was meant to be against Valeri Semishkur, but Semishkur pulled out. Instead, Haye fought and beat Tony Booth on 8 December 2002. He had seven fights in 2003, and won all of them. He won his tenth fight in a row when he beat Arthur Williams on 12 May 2004. He won those ten fights with a total of only 20 rounds. In his match against IBO champion Carl Thompson on 10 September 2004, he lost for the first time in his career. In his next match, on 10 December 2004, he beat Semishkur in the first round.

Haye won the European title on 16 December 2006 when he beat Alexander Gurov. He won the match after only 45 seconds. On 24 March 2007, in his first match as European champion, he beat Lasse Johansen. On 27 April 2007, he had his first heavyweight fight, against Tomasz Bonin. Haye won in the first round. Shortly after the fight, Haye said he had plans to move up to the heavyweight division. "I'm absolutely certain I can rule the heavyweight roost", he said. On 10 November 2007, he beat Jean-Marc Mormeck to win the WBA, WBC, and Ring magazine titles. Haye was knocked down in the fourth round, but hit Mormeck with a series of blows in the seventh to win by technical knockout. He became the UK's sixth boxing champion. On 8 March 2008, he beat Enzo Maccarinelli to win the WBO title. Haye hit Maccarinelli with two big punches before the referee stopped the match. Haye said he planned to move up to the heavyweight division. A few weeks after the fight, Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF, IBO, and WBO heavyweight champion, said he wanted to fight Haye.

Haye gave away his titles at cruiserweight and moved up to the heavyweight division. He beat Monte Barrett on 15 November 2008, winning in the fifth round. Before the fight, he said fighting Barrett was a big risk and that he might have retired if he lost. He was meant to fight Wladimir on 20 June 2009, but pulled out. On 31 October 2009, he beat Nikolai Valuev, who is 7 feet tall, to become the WBA champion. Haye was 98 pounds lighter than Valuev; before this fight, no-one had won a heavyweight title match weighing this much less than their opponent. Haye said he has wanted to be the heavyweight champion since he was a toddler. He then beat John Ruiz on 3 April 2010 and Audley Harrison on 13 November 2010. He now says he wants to fight Wladimir or his brother Vitali, who holds the WBC belt. The two brothers are regarded as the best heavyweights in the world. Haye says he plans to retire before his 31st birthday.

Haye was born on 13 October 1980 in Bermondsey, London. He went to Snowsfield primary school and Bacon's College. Jade Goody, winner of the television show Big Brother, was in his class.  Haye is married and has a son called Cassius, named after Cassius Clay, the birth name of Muhammad Ali. His training camp is based in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus. He started training there in 2007 and sometimes fights with the Northern Cyprus flag on his shorts. He supports the football team Millwall. In September 2010, a newspaper in Northern Cyprus said Haye had become a citizen of Northern Cyprus.

References

Other websites 
Official website
List of fights 

1980 births
Living people
Black British sportspeople
British boxers
People from the London Borough of Southwark
Sportspeople from London