Haye taunts Valuev as a smelly circus freak

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Britain’s David Haye expects  world heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev to be an ugly opponent  when they fight for the WBA title next month, but the smell also  worries him.    Haye, who fights the “Beast from the East” in Germany on  Nov. 7, was not so much stirring up a hornets nest at a  trash-talking news conference yesterday as wading in with a  smile and the biggest stick at his disposal. The 28-year-old said he hoped to get under the giant  Russian’s skin to the point where the champion steps into the  Nuremberg ring with real hatred clouding his vision. “I always fight better when my opponent’s angry,” said Haye,  who traded insults with a ‘look alike’ Valuev in hooded robe and  Halloween fright mask before punching the head off a lifesize  cardboard cutout. “I relish that, I need him to come out there and throw a lot  of punches. I thrive off that excitement and that anticipation  before a fight,” he told Reuters.“I’m going to get him in a position where he really wants to  not only beat me but to kill me.

“I know he’s big on hunting, on shooting bears and pigs and  whatever. I want him to go out there and treat me the same way  he tries to treat those animals.”

Haye, who has a 21-1 winning record, will be giving away 90  pounds in weight and a foot in height to the tallest and  heaviest champion ever — and one who has yet to be floored in a  16 year professional career with just one defeat in 52 fights.

CIRCUS FREAK

Haye, who has previously called Valuev “the ugliest thing I  have ever seen”, said there would be nothing pretty about the  David v Goliath battle. “All you’ve got to do is look at a picture of the guy and  that speaks volumes. I consider him more of a circus show freak  that happens to be boxing,” he said.

“He’s an ugly type of fighter, he tries to lean on you,  tries to brawl and comes out with a really hairy chest that gets  matted and is disgusting. “I’ve never been a big fan of the matted hair in my face.  The size I am, I sort of come up to his chest and apparently the  word around the campfire is that he doesn’t smell too sweet,”  added the “Hayemaker”. “I’ve talked to a few guys that have been in the ring with  him and they say that’s the first thing they notice, just the  stench,” he added. “Hopefully he runs a cold tap over himself or someone hoses  him down outside before he comes in.” Haye, a former cruiserweight world champion, would be  Britain’s first heavyweight title holder since Lennox Lewis  retired six years ago and he said he would do “anything humanly  possible” to succeed.

He recognised it would be tough, but refused to be  intimidated. “I don’t think he can hold his technique together, I think  he’s too clumsy.  He doesn’t have the technical ability to beat  someone as fast and as experienced as me,” said Haye.

“There are certain aspects of his game that are very  effective, he’s got a very good and fast jab, a double jab, he  throws a nice upper cut. But he’s going to need a lot more than  those three shots to beat me.”