Boxing: Haye-Chisora grudge match set for July 14

Frank Warren told us it was inevitable and that is how it panned out. Former heavyweight titleholder David Haye and bitter rival Dereck Chisora will settle their differences, inside the ring, on July 14 at West Ham football club’s Upton Park stadium, east London.

Details of the anticipated showdown between the warring Brits, which is likely to draw a sell-out 35,000 crowd and the biggest television audience yet for Warren’s relatively-new Box Nation channel, were confirmed Tuesday at a press conference where both fighters, who were infamously involved in an ugly brawl following Chisora’s defeat to Vitali Klitschko in Germany earlier this year, were separated by an iron fence.

Despite being on UK soil, the whole show, which will also feature Alexander Povetkin defending his WBA heavyweight title against Hasim Rahman, will be licensed by the Luxembourg Boxing Commission, as neither Chisora nor Haye hold licenses with the British Boxing Board of Control. Chisora had his suspended by the BBBoC because of his unruly antics in Munich, while Haye has not renewed his since retiring in October after last summer’s hefty beating by Wladimir Klitschko.

Haye (25-2, 23 knockouts) is relishing getting the gloves back on and clearly views this as the perfect chance to silence fellow-Londoner Chisora (15-3, 9 KOs) and take the vacant WBO international belt on offer, as well as a large step towards another crack at one of the all-conquering Klitschko brothers. He is also promising to produce a quality performance far removed from the dreadful show he put up against RING champion Wladimir Klitschko ten months ago.

“Boxing is about two guys fighting -- with rules. We’ve done it before without rules and ideally that wouldn’t have happened. Then again maybe this fight wouldn’t have happened without the incident because of the hysteria and media interest surrounding it," said 31-year-old Haye, a former cruiserweight titleholder.

“I don’t regret what happened in Munich one bit. When someone threatens you and gets in your face, you have to stand your ground. The other guy gets it.”

By contrast, Chisora, 28, is rather more apologetic over the madness that occurred before the world’s watching media in February and led to his suspension by the BBBoC. But he is equally confident about making Haye pay for their bust-up.

“I do regret the bit when I said I wanted to shoot him, ” said the Zimbabwe-born Englishman, currently laid low with food poisoning. “I have never had a gun, I would never want to take someone’s life and David is a father with a family. That part I do regret. It was stupid.

“But Haye is a schmuck and he was scared today. At least he dressed up for the occasion, I must give him that. He’d bought a new suit.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/172787-warren-defends-right-to-stage-haye-chisora-in-uk
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