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DAVID HAYE BY DAVID BAILEY
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COVER STORY
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WORLD EXCLUSIVE PORTRAITS
DAVID HAYE BY DAVID BAILEY
David Haye: The other side
Sky Sports Magazine spent five months with Britain’s heavyweight champion of the world, and found out what it’s really like to go from contender to defending your title WORDS: CLAIRE BLOOMFIELD
4 February 2010… A silver Mercedes slides through the streets of South London. David Haye, new heavyweight champion of the world, sits in the front passenger seat, reading emails on his BlackBerry. Behind him, his minder Danny Watts is doing the same. In the hand of Big Danny, a BlackBerry looks the size of a matchbox. Next to Danny is Haye’s younger brother, James. “You wanna do the Cherie Blair thing, yeah?” Watts asks. ”And the Naomi Campbell thing?” “Yeah, I wanna do them.” Haye replies, not looking up from the small bright screen. Watts’ voice trails off. “I dunno if you can do both,” he says, almost to himself. “I can’t put them in the diary without talking to Adam. Nothing goes in the diary without talking to Adam…” Watts, a former boxer and scaffolder from
Peckham, is built on the scale required to mind the champ. He is 6ft 7in tall and weighs 21 stone. He took three months leave from the scaffolding business to help Haye prepare for his title fight with the 7ft 2in Russian Nikolai Valuev, and never went back. Haye’s phone rings. He hands it to Watts. Big Danny talks for a while before handing it back. “It’s David Cameron’s office,” he says, and then laughs. “It wasn’t like this with the scaffolding.” It wasn’t always like this for David Haye, either. Insport,themarginsbetweensuccessandfailure are proverbially fine, and in boxing they are finer than most. Depending on who you ask, the points win over Valuev that brought Haye the WBC belt, that currently resides in a shopworn carrier bag by Watts’ giant feet, was either by six rounds or
by none. It was clear-cut or non-existent. Yet it’s the win that has opened the doors into the world in which Haye now resides – the world of Cherie Blair and David Cameron, Naomi Campbell and all of the others who call and email throughout the day, wanting a piece of his time. He chats happily to Cameron’s office, cheerily promising to look at some sports initiatives they are preparing. “I thought you were New Labour…” his brother James says. Haye spins around in his seat. “Hey,” he says, “I’m for the great British public.” And his face splits into its movie-star grin. Everyone laughs, not just at the line, but at the unlikeliness of their situation: boys from South Bermondsey being courted by Her Majesty’s opposition.
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COVER STORY Haye’s team is knitted tightly together, by this adventure and by their shared background. In addition to Big Danny Watts and James Haye, there is Adam Booth, who manages and trains Haye; Jon Hill, who looks after publicity; and Yvonne Muller, a new arrival as events co-ordinator. They work out of a gym under the railway arches at Vauxhall, a place that was still being furnished with a functioning office when Haye moved into a nearby hotel to train for the first defence of his title, against the tough and rugged Puerto Rican John Ruiz on 3 April. Haye lives not far away with his wife Natasha and his son Cassius, but it’s not the distance between hotel and home that matters. It’s the separation that counts. As Haye has discovered, being heavyweight champion of the world is a state of mind. Haye has craved that state of mind for as long as he can remember. Just like his hero Muhammad Ali, he was always cocky, always cheeky, always ready to tell the world how good he was, how good he could be. Right from the start, Adam Booth was with him, training and managing, fuelling the dream, pumping the know-how into Haye with every fight, with every win. Adam was switched on and street smart, a strategist in the training camp and a solid negotiator out of it. They roared through the first 10 fights; no one lasted more than four rounds against him. For their fifth pro bout, against Vance Winn, they’d agreed to fight at the Playboy Mansion. David had loved that, knocking Winn over in a round and then partying with the girls, lapping up the publicity. The rest of boxing looked at Haye and Booth and muttered, ‘They’ve got it coming – they’re too flash, too cocky.’ And that was seven years ago.
2 September 2009 It’s just over two months before David Haye is due to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. Attempts to reach him at his training camp in Cyprus to arrange an interview have proven fruitless. Usually a request via a sport star’s website meets with one of two fates: automated response or no response at all. But needs must, and soon after our email, there is a phone call. It’s Haye on his mobile. He has taken his career and his destiny into his own hands, and he wants to talk about both. He tells tales of his new life, a life dedicated to one dream: to be the heavyweight champion of the world, whatever it takes. What it takes at the moment is a lot of effort. When he catches a train to do the fight promo, he travels standard class. No one asks him for an autograph during the journey.
9 November 2009 Haye is in the ring fighting Nikolai Valuev for the heavyweight championship. He is the underdog. Even the Brits are betting against him, with most
money going on Valuev in the hours leading up to the fight. On the minds of some seasoned punters is the night in September 2004 when it happened, when the flash and cocky David Haye got what was coming. Wembley Arena, against 40-year-old Carl Thompson in Haye’s first really big fight, he did what he usually did and started whacking Thompson around, hitting him at will with those big right hands. But Carl was rock-hard, with a chin made of granite. He let David Haye blow himself out and then he took him down, forcing Booth to throw in the towel after five rounds. Some seasoned punters haven’t forgotten that night, or the newspaper that reported that anyone who thought Haye might one day become champion ‘would have been laughed out of London’. But David Haye hasn’t forgotten, either. He hasn’t forgotten how it bound him and Adam together even more tightly, as they overcame the mental scars and the embarrassment. How he now listens
Ferdinand since their school days, and now the boxer can share equal billing with the footballer. In fact, Haye is the one guest who turns up that every member of the media wants to talk to. As JLS are performing on stage, a throng gathers round Haye, desperately trying to grab his attention and congratulate him on his success. Later we talk about his new-found fame. As Haye acknowledges: “Normally after a fight you get boxing fans and sports fans in general pick up on the fight. This time it was front page and back page news. It was quite surreal because you don’t normally get that for a boxing match. “I’ve had old grannies coming up to me saying that was a great fight, and I’m like, ‘Oh, so you’re a boxing fan?’ And they’ll say, ‘Not usually, but I went to the pub and watched it with my old fella.’ It’s great to see, and the more people realising that boxing is a great entertaining sport, the better. That’s what I’m here for.”
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I’ll just have to take the few grand we wasted on Ruiz out on his face” to Adam and only Adam while he sits on his stool between rounds with Valuev: “He was telling me I was winning the fight,” Haye says. “If you were listening to other people, they had me losing. I trusted Adam’s opinion, and if I hadn’t, I might have changed my game plan. He was confident he knew what the scores were and what I needed to do at what stage in the fight. I listened to the right man. He knows his boxing. I trust him with my life.” Despite reports that say he partied long into the night, he didn’t. Haye and Adam, plus a small group of people including his family, went back to the hotel and cherished the moment, savouring the feeling that their lives had just changed forever.
16 December 2009 It’s the launch party for Rio Ferdinand’s Live The Dream Foundation. Haye has been friends with
Adam Booth sits on a train from Manchester to London, so exhausted he’s barely able to open his eyes. He and the rest of the Hayemaker team have blagged their way into first class for the trip home. Haye is still buzzing from the press conference earlier in the day, at which he had announced the fight against John Ruiz at the MEN Arena, and unveiled a poster that mimicked the famous Welcome To Manchester shot of Carlos Tevez. While Haye happily googles himself on his new silver MacBook, and does yet more interviews on his mobile, Booth sighs and offers someone – anyone– a fiver if they’ll go and get him a bottle of water from the buffet car. As usual, Haye has been a hit at the press conference, but Booth is still frustrated and annoyed by John Ruiz, who failed to show. They paid £15,000 for two first class flights from Las Vegas, and he didn’t turn up to catch the plane. “He could have at least sent a text so we could have cancelled all of that,” says Haye. “I’ll just have to take the few grand we wasted out on his face…” Booth smiles, and he’s soon buzzing himself, despite the tiredness, firing off emails about prospective fighters for the undercard, working out complicated finances in his head. He is a completely hands-on guy, nothing under his eye is left to chance. When he was training Haye for the giant Valuev, he bought a ridiculous pair of platform boots from a gothic fashion shop in Germany and used them to elevate himself while Haye did his padwork (“He only gets to wear them before training now,” Haye smirks). He carefully inspects all of Team Hayemaker’s clothing – from his own even through to Big Danny’s. Nothing goes in the diary without Adam’s say so. As the Ruiz training camp begins in earnest, less and less requests get through. A lot rests on this fight.
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COVER STORY America is just waking up to Haye’s charisma; those in the know are beginning to sense a buzz about a heavyweight division that has been moribund since the retirement of Lennox Lewis almost a decade ago. Haye’s punching power, and his willingness to take risks in and out of the ring, have pointed the way to a glittering future at the top of the sport. “I feel a massive responsibility because it’s been pretty boring lately,” Haye says, looking up from his screen. “You’ve got fighters fighting dull and boring fights. All you’ve got to do is look at my record and look at the fights I’ve taken. A lot of people wouldn’t go into the lion’s den and take on the champion, but I’m not afraid to do that. I went straight into the heavyweight division and a lot of people didn’t think I had what it took to go up there. People were saying I didn’t have the pedigree, I didn’t have the minerals to get to the top. But I have proved everybody wrong.” As the train pulls into London, some news comes through that puts a smile firmly back on Adam Booth’s face: Haye-Ruiz has shifted 5,500 tickets in its first 24 hours on sale.
PICTURES: PRESS ASSOCIATION, ACTION IMAGES
4 February 2010 The silver Mercedes crosses the river and arrives at a photographer’s studio near King’s Cross railway station. Haye, his brother and Big Danny disembark. James bursts through the studio door and yells, “No one minds Rottweilers, do they?” It gets a laugh, and Haye walks in to shake hands with the man who will be taking his picture – David Bailey. Bailey, iconic photographer and spirit of ’60s London, tells Haye that he has shot more than 400 covers of Vogue but just one boxer during his storied career: Frank Bruno. “You’ll be alright, though,” he says. “Good looking boy…” Haye smiles. If he needs any more confirmation of the company he’s now keeping, Bailey reveals the contents of his diary for the week. “It was Ricky Gervais yesterday,” he says. “And it’s Tom Ford tomorrow…” If there is a question over Haye’s career, it has nothing to do with ability. Instead it’s a query over the cost of the fame and wealth he is acquiring, and how quickly they will accumulate if things go to plan. It is, after all, boxing’s classic career curve: success usually lasts as long as the hunger. As the great Marvin Hagler once said, “It’s hard to get up at 6am when you’re wearing silk pyjamas.” “I’ve made sure my life hasn’t changed, to be honest – I don’t want it to change,” Haye says. “When you get hit, you can be discombobulated. The last thing you’re thinking about is houses or money – you’re thinking about winning the fight.” He pauses, considering the road he’s travelled, as well as the one ahead. “As long as there is a fight going on, the only thing in my mind that matters is winning the fight. How many cars, or whatever, is totally irrelevant…”
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Head to head
WHEN HAYE MET OUR GLENN
Sky Sports’ boxing analyst, Glenn McCrory, was a cruiserweight world champion who sparred with Mike Tyson and fought Lennox Lewis. He talks to Haye about making the step up in weight… Very few fighters have been truly successful when making the move up from cruiserweight to heavyweight, Evander Holyfield being perhaps the best example. I know that when I moved up to fight Lennox Lewis, it felt like a huge leap. He was much bigger. Do you feel like a natural heavyweight yet? Yes, I do feel like a natural heavyweight. I didn’t feel like that against Valuev because he was a freakishly big heavyweight and seven stone heavier than me. When I get in the ring against John Ruiz I will definitely feel like I’m a heavyweight. Ruiz will only be a stone heavier than me, and in heavyweight terms one stone doesn’t make much difference. What makes the difference is the speed, power, agility, timing and reflexes. They’ll counteract any little weight advantage he might have over me. The pros of moving up and taking the speed and movement of a cruiserweight with you showed in the Valuev fight. Ruiz has got a bit more speed and agility. How have your preparations changed? Ruiz is a completely different animal compared to Valuev. I’ve had to lower the bags by a foot and Adam has had to take off the platform boots for the pad work. He’s gutted! I’m getting used to punching a normal-sized human being. I actually punch
a lot harder when I’m punching against someone my own height, so what you’ll see is increased power, a lot more combinations and I’ll be able to stand in range a lot longer as his reach is the same as mine. You’ll get more of a traditional slugfest. John Ruiz is a durable guy. He’s done it the hard way – he’s beaten fighters like Holyfield by outworking them. It’s my feeling that boxing him is going to tell us a lot about you as a heavyweight. How do you see the fight? I agree it will show a lot about me. Ruiz comes in and throws at a very good work rate, and he is in tremendous condition physically. He always gives a good account of himself and I’m expecting to show people the best of ‘The Hayemaker’. I’m looking to knock him out – he’s only been knocked out once and that was by David Tua nearly 16 years ago. Since then he has learnt the power of survival. When he’s hurt he finds a way to get through the rounds, so he’s a very wily customer. I’ll find a way to decode and decrypt him, and then I’ll knock him out. Unlike some fighters, you’re not afraid to tell the world that you can get hit and hurt. That can draw fighters into fighting your fight. Is it a case of turning a vice into a virtue? I like to keep it real. I’ve been knocked down in the past by guys who weren’t heavyweights so Game plan “Valuev was freakishly big”
Training regime Haye knows the importance of a strong work ethic
New era Haye hears the result of the fight with Valuev
I’m not going to go out there claiming I’ve got a chin like Marvin Hagler. I’ve been knocked down before but I’m not ignorant to that. Instead, I adapt my style around my assets and weakness – as some people think it is. If you look at my style, I don’t take too many flush shots on the chin and my head is always moving. I’ve got a very underrated defence and you’re going to see what ‘The Hayemaker’ is all about come 3 April. I’m looking at doing something very exciting and clashing with him in the middle of the ring. You’re going to see explosions! People are already talking about you being the guy to put the division back where it belongs at the top of boxing, like Tyson and Lewis did in their eras. Are there the fights out there for you to do that? Yeah, I think there are – once I’ve got John Ruiz out of the way then I’ll see what’s out there on the world stage. I know the Klitschko boys both have fights coming up. I think Vitali is looking to fight Valuev, and his younger brother Vladimir is fighting ‘Fast’ Eddie Chambers from the States. We’ll have to wait and see how those fights go. I’m not looking past Ruiz at bigger fights down the line. I want to make sure I get him out of the way first and smash him to bits.
After I’ve smashed John Ruiz I’ll see what big fights are out there for me to take. I remember that the biggest difference about becoming a world champion is that you’ve suddenly got a million friends. That’s especially true of the heavyweight champ. How are you dealing with that? The people who jump on late doors may not be the best people. But there’s people who have been there since the start, people who were still there when I lost the fight against Carl Thompson – that showed me who was really there for me and who wasn’t. I was quite surprised, some of the people who I thought didn’t care showed me their support. Some of the ones who I thought did care distanced themselves from me. Sometimes it’s good to lose to see who’s just there for the ride and who’s genuinely there for your well-being. As long as I’m hungry, I want to win more fights and I want to win more titles, and entertain the crowds. I don’t allow being the world heavyweight champion affect me in anyway whatsoever. I’m no different to how I was with the cruiserweight title, or the English title – I’m the same guy. There are a lot more demands on my time, but the priority is my training. I make sure
whatever bits and pieces I need to do, whether that is photo shoots or interviews, that it all fits around my training. I don’t substitute training to do any publicity whatsoever. I probably only do 10% of requests. I wouldn’t want to do 100% of that publicity and then lose my next fight. Finally, I remember a night out we had, and you were wearing a cowboy hat in a nightclub. You still wearing that? I still have got the hat. I used to wear some mad outfits when I went out sometimes – going through the cowboy phase. I bought the boots in Texas in 1999 at the World Championships. I thought if I’m going to get a pair of cowboy boots I want a real pair. I think I’ve still got them as well…
THE BIG FIGHT: HAYE v RUIZ
Sat 3 April, 9pm, Sky Box Office HD Sky Box Office is the only place you can see David Haye defend his world heavyweight title against number one challenger John Ruiz. Plus, you can also see the event in HD. Just press Box Office on your Sky remote or dial 08442 410 888 to order Haye v Ruiz for £14.95. There is a £1 fee for phone bookings.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID BAILEY, GROOMING BY CHARLIE DUFFY, STYLING BY MAUREEN VIVIAN AT CAROL HAYES MANAGEMENT. SUIT BY RICHARD JAMES, WHITE SHIRT BY GIEVES & HAWKES, TIE BY PAUL COSTELLO, SHOES BY PAUL SMITH AT HTTP://MYWARDROBE.COM, CUFFLINKS BY TATEOSSIAN, MILITARY COAT BY GIEVES & HAWKES, SHIRT BY UNIQLO.
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After I’ve smashed John Ruiz, I’ll see what big fights are out there”
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