Klitschko's manager blames Sky Sports for Haye fight breakdown
In a surprising and dreadfully disappointing throw of the heavyweight dice, Wladmir Klitschko will now face Derek Chisora on April 30th rather than David Haye. Klitschko's manager Bernd Boente revealed that IBF/WBO champion Klitschko and WBA rival Haye had been close to agreeing the April date, but negotiations broke down at the final hurdle - and the German has laid the blame at the feet of Sky Sports.
The match with Chisora will take place at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, where it was originally scheduled for December 11th. Klitschko withdrew in fight week citing an abdominal injury.
From what can currently be gleaned from a variety of sources, Boente is reported to have given the following interpretation of events:
- negotiations between representatives of Haye and Klitschko had been ongoing for three weeks
- Haye had agreed to fight in Germany and agreed to an even revenue split
- neutral officials had been agreed
- a date of April 30 was fine for RTL but Sky Sports was not willing to do two pay-per-views in the same month; they already have WBA light-welter boss Amir Khan v TBA lined up for April 16th
- Sky Sports was unwilling to move it to accommodate Haye v Klitschko and confirmed this to Boente this morning
- there were no dates in May or June that worked for both networks
- the first available date that works for both networks and a potential venue is July 2
- both camps were prepared to fight on July 2nd but Haye's manager, Adam Booth, was unwilling to allow Klitschko to take an interim fight before July
- Klitschko's representatives have no problem with Haye taking a fight before then
- Klitschko has not fought since the knockout of Samuel Peter on September 11 and refused to wait nine months before taking another fight
- Klitschko was contractually bound to a 30-day window to reschedule the fight with Chisora or move forward with another opponent. The deadline was tomorrow
- Boente informed Chisora's representatives that they would proceed under the terms of their originally scheduled showdown
- Klitschko and Haye have a 'tentative agreement' to fight on July 2nd
- If and when Haye v Klitschko does happen, Boente would prefer to work with Showtime rather than HBO
An angry Adam Booth told Sky Sports News: "There were lots of people that know Wladimir really didn't want this fight yet. It's a shame. It's embarrassing for boxing that the unification fight isn't going to happen now because David's bent over backwards. We've conceded to every single ridiculous demand they made.
"From the start they said 50-50. David said fine, even though potentially we're putting in the pot three or four times more than they're putting into the pot because of pay-per-view Sky box office. David still said 'let's get the fight done 50-50'.
"They said the fight had to be on their German broadcaster even though our German broadcaster was prepared to pay more. We said fine. They said 'we're not coming to England for the fight'. David said 'fine, I'll go to Germany'. They said Wladimir has to be in the red corner, Wladimir has to come in second, Wladimir's name has to be first on the poster and all these other ridiculous, egotistical things, and David said 'fine, have it, just get him in the ring with me'.
"The last thing was, here is the date we now have, we said yes, Sky have approved that date and they turn round and say 'we're now doing Chisora'.
"Wladimir should feel ashamed of himself."
Although this turn of events will undoubtedly disappoint and even anger the vast majority of boxing fans, it's obviously great for big Derek.
"This news is a fantastic late Christmas present," said Chisora. "I always believed that I would fight Klitschko, and my faith has been repaid.
"I was a bit worried that he might try and fight an easier touch, but I think I've earned my opportunity. I was gutted when Wladimir pulled out of our fight just a couple of days beforehand. But now I've got another chance to take his titles away.
"He's a great world champion, but his time at the top is well and truly up."
