Haye Declines Skelton Offer

David Haye recently turned down (supposedly laughed off) an offer of £600,000 from promoter Frank Warren to face Matt Skelton. This coincided on the same day he set up his promotional company Hayemaker Productions.

Haye On The Offer

“The timing of the offer was priceless. As Hayemaker Promotions are announcing their ethos and plans to break trends in boxing - to put on exciting, competitive and meaningful contests – Frank Warren’s Sports Network offer me a fight with a washed-up 40-year-old coming off a defeat with nowhere else to go. I’m sure I’m not the only one who saw the irony in that.

That aside, the offer was a derisory one anyway. We thank him for the offer, but I now know what I’m worth and can guarantee I’ll make at least double Warren’s figure in my next fight. Not only that, my next heavyweight fight will actually mean something and progress my career towards a world title shot. With all respect, Skelton brings nothing to the table. Warren needs to re-evaluate both his figures and the heavyweight rankings.

Frank Warren should have realised that, given the fact Skelton is not ranked in the top 10 by any of the main governing bodies, Setanta Sports would not even allow him to box me in the first place. I have an agreement with Setanta Sports which will only see me box top 10-ranked heavyweights from now on. Skelton’s nowhere near the top 10 of any governing body.

Frankly, even if Skelton was ranked, I wouldn’t choose to fight him. It’s not the sort of fight we’re looking to put on at Hayemaker Promotions. Firstly, Skelton’s coming off a defeat. Secondly, as determined as he is, Skelton’s the most boring heavyweight in the world. Thirdly, his most dangerous punch combination is the double-grab, right hug. Fourthly, why would I want to jeopardise Skelton’s huge showdown with Samuel Peter on July 12 for the WBC title? That’s a massive fight for him and Great Britain. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of that.

“How much more charity are Sports Network willing to offer me?. They’ll be replacing Oxfam at this rate. They already gift-wrapped their prodigal son Enzo Maccarinelli for me to obliterate in a couple of rounds and now they want to wheel out the company’s grandad on his Stannah stair-lift for a beating. Thanks for the offer - but I’m not in this sport to hand out pensions.”

Haey On His Next Fight

“It will be an exciting fight against a dangerous, top 10-ranked heavyweight,” Haye promised. “Taking that into account, if you’ve seen Matt Skelton fight, you’ll know it won’t be him.”

My Thoughts

Matt Skelton to me doesn't seem like a bad opponent for Haye, but I guess he's looking strictly for top 10 level opponents and namely 2 big ones so that he can try to push for a showdown with Wladimir Klitschko next summer. I think he should just fight anyone real quick to get a taste of the heavyweight division, and this fight would let him do that. Unless of course he's not sure of how well he's going to do against any heavyweight, and he's just trying to hype himself to get a big payday just in case he does lose. If thats the case maybe he should change his nickname from the "Hayemaker" to the "Hypemaker"... :D
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