AS a young professional boxing hopeful, David Haye was not that much different from his peers, despite a World amateur silver medal marking him out as a prospect to watch. He still keenly craved the approval of the fans and would eagerly visit boxing forums to find reviews of and reaction to his most recent fight, even engaging with the punters. While Haye still peruses the online message boards to this day, he no longer contributes.
โI love the banter,โ he tells me, as we sit in his gym in Vauxhall, London. โI used to write as myself when I was younger, up to my 10th-11th fight. I used to try to justify my performances, like I needed their approval. Iโd be like, โI went out and beat this guy really well; what do you think?โ โNah, the guy was crap.โ โBut he hadnโt lost before.โ โYeah but heโd never fought anybody.โ People always used to say, โYouโll never gonna be cruiserweight champion because if you canโt beat Carl Thompson, how you gonna beat Jean-Marc Mormeck?โ Then I beat Mormeck: โOh he was over the hill, you wouldnโt beat Enzo Maccarinelli, heโs young etcโ, beat him, โYouโre never gonna be heavyweight champion, you wonโt beat Nikolai Valuev, heโs too big and youโre only a pumped-up cruiserweight,โ beat Valuev and then โValuev was too slow.โ Then โYouโre not gonna beat Klitschkoโ, lost on points, โAh, I always knew you was s***, Iโve been saying it since 2002.โ
โAll these people who were saying these things were paying to see it. You canโt please everyone. People are moaning about Floyd Mayweather but heโs done nothing wrong in his career. Heโs beat every single man heโs ever faced and people say heโs a cherry-picker and only fights people when theyโre finished. Really? Heโs not young himself. โManny Pacquiaoโs over the hillโโฆ theyโre about the same age!โ
Haye is one of the gameโs finest self-marketers and is acutely aware that a desire to see a boxer lose is much more likely to increase that fighterโs bank balance than widespread indifference.
โAs long as youโre interesting to people, as long as youโre relevant, thatโs all that matters,โ he stated. โAs long people are taking time to log into a forum and write something, even if itโs to say youโre the worst fighter theyโve ever seen in their life, they hope they never see you again, as long as theyโre writing about you, they donโt realise, theyโre a secret fan. If I buy a ticket to see the Spice Girls and I only went there to see how terrible they were and slag them off, Iโm a fan. They donโt realise that. Without people like that I wouldnโt be here today. I love my haters as much as my supporters. I need them arguing with each other because if everyone loved David theyโd get bored of that and have nothing to say in the pub. I talk to fighters who, like me when I was younger, they take it really personal when reviews donโt go their way. It doesnโt matter, just be happy youโre in the magazine. I donโt complain but Iโd probably complain if they werenโt writing about me!โ
And, to clarify, David Haye has never bought a ticket to see the Spice Girls, though he would not be drawn on whether he has ever been given a ticket to the ‘Girl Power’ act at no charge.
#HayeDay returns to The O2 on May 21, tickets are available on general sale now via AXS.com.