DAVID HAYE REVVED UP

VA VA BOOM - World heavyweight champ David Haye with his new Bentley

Brit champ ready for his own Rumble In The Jungle

BELTER - Londoner David Haye

VITALI WANTS A BRIT OF THE ACTION

WBC champ dares Haye to fight him after Johnson victory.

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By CLIFF HAYES, 26/12/2009

DAVID HAYE is dishing out some Va Va Boom for Bentley by becoming the new face of the luxury supercar giants.

Britain's world heavyweight champion collected his free £155,000 shimmering black Continental GT convertible from London's Jack Barclay showroom a few days ago.

But he will also be one of the first to own the Crewe-based company's flagship £220,000 Mulsanne motor when he takes delivery of his own customised model in the Spring.

And Haye plans to make that car even more special - by having images of his deadly rival Vitali Klitschko and defeated giant Nikolai Valuev hand painted on the leather seats!

Haye met Bentley bosses at a charity auction at Bonhams earlier this month. He was also introduced to artist Paul Kerslake - brother of Rolling Stones superstar Ronnie Wood's estranged wife Jo - who has perfected the technique of air brushing paintings on to leather for trimming company Tender47.

And Haye wants people to know it's his car when they see him on the road. He said: "I haven't decided on the colour yet but I am going to have it customised by Paul. The leatherwork art he does is amazing. I want him to do some nice images of me knocking out Valuev on one seat and me holding Klitschko's head on the other."

Haye caused a storm when he wore a T-shirt at a press conference depicting him holding aloft the severed heads of both Klitschko brothers.

Pimping his luxury wheels will take his Klitschko-baiting to a new level. But Haye always wants to stand out from the crowd.

From his wrist dangles a huge Hublot watch which is almost as expensive as the car.

"If you can have the best car, then why not," added Haye. "As heavyweight champion I am the biggest and the best and the car is the same. We are the perfect partnership."

It certainly tops former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry's famous Va Va Voom commercials for Renault.

But Haye might want his Mulsanne to have darker tinted windows. As his sparring partner Danny Watts explained as they drove the car out of the showroom: "At the traffic lights lots of people knocked on the windows for autographs!"

Yes, Haye is in big demand. Since beating 7ft, 23-stone Russian giant Valuev with one hand in Germany last month, the 29-year-old Bermondsey boxer has been a special guest on the Jonathan Ross show and Strictly Come Dancing.

"Beating Valuev has been my greatest achievement," said Haye."But to do it after breaking my right hand in the second round against the biggest heavyweight champion in history just put the icing on the cake.

"Now, no matter what happens in my career, people will remember it. I have even had old ladies come up to me and say: 'Oh that was tremendous - how could you possibly overcome such a mountain of a man with one hand?'

"But when your adrenalin is pumping you don't feel pain."

Just as well, because the force of the break actually pushed his knuckle backwards.

The swelling has only just gone down but doctors have told him he can start punching again in four weeks.

"Some people win titles, but leave their soul in the ring," he said. "They get battered, but I have plenty of other big nights left in me."

And then, completely unprompted, he makes the Bentley executives smile by adding: "I've got a lot more juice in the tank."

He will need it too, with his first defence against former two-time heavyweight champ John Ruiz set to go ahead in three months.

"He is a tricky customer," admitted Haye. "He has only been stopped once in 50-odd fights, but I aim to make that twice.

"The fight will definitely be in the UK - possibly at London's O2 Arena or the MEN Arena."

Victory and Haye will then try to become the undisputed champion with fights against the Klitschko brothers.

"They are my targets," he said. "I want to unify the belts.

"I wasn't impressed with Vitali's last fight against the hopeless Kevin Johnson.

"The American turned up only for a paycheck while Vitali just swirled his arms around. He needs more than that against me if he expects to remain conscious."

The Klitschkos have been bad-mouthing Haye since his triumph, branding him a trash talker. But the Londoner hit back: "It doesn't bother me one bit because I know I can beat them; knock them out.

"Whenever they have been in the ring with someone with a bit of heart they have found a way to lose.

"Either by saying, 'I've got a dodgy shoulder injury' or 'someone drugged my water' - they've always got an excuse. But I'll give them a real excuse. I'll put them on the floor.

"People say Vitali nearly beat Lennox Lewis, but look at the state of Vitali's face at the end of that loss. He needed nearly 200 stitches in his face. That doesn't sound like someone who was in control. It sounds like someone who got his face punched in.

"The T-shirt wound 'em up, it definitely got under their skin. That made sure a fight against one of them is definitely going to happen."

And it could take place in the African jungle. Haye's advisors have already begun negotiations about a possible £30million Rumble in the Jungle II unification fight in Gabon with the Russian WBC holder later in the year.

Haye is due to arrive in Angola next month for the Africa Cup of Nations and talks are set to continue then.

"I have never been to Africa before and there is not a better time than now as world heavyweight champion," he said.

"I would like to be an inspiration to the underprivileged kids out there. I've only seen their suffering on TV and it hits home pretty hard how tough they have it so I'd like to see it with my own eyes.

"The Jungle Book is my favourite film, maybe that has got something to do with why I want to go. I want to do whatever I can, whether it's raise awareness or money.

"Look at how they welcomed Muhammad Ali when he went over there. He is a massive hero of mine, I'd love to follow in his footsteps as best I can.

"Ali is a massive role model and a great human being and if I could emulate him and have a massive showdown in Africa I'd love it. He laid down the blueprint of how to be great, fighting other great fighters, bringing boxing to the masses.

"I don't like the way the Klitschko brothers have conducted themselves. All they've ever done is fight in Germany with German judges and German refs. So, to go to an alien country for a world title fight would be fantastic."

It would not be the first unusual venue Haye has ever fought at. His fourth bout as a cruiserweight was staged at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. It was July 15, 2003 and Haye was a 23-year-old rookie.

"Yes, that was an experience," he recalled. "I fought Vance Wynn but he didn't win anything that night. I knocked him out in 45 seconds. They assembled a ring in Hugh Hefner's garden and all the Playboy bunnies and Hollywood elite, including film star Will Smith, were there. I haven't a clue how I ended up fighting there. But going to Africa will be totally different.

"I will be fighting the best on the planet. No, I am the best on the planet. I just want to prove it to the world. Vitali and Wladimir had about 90 fights between them but they never came close to fighting Valuev. Why? Yet I fought him - the biggest heavyweight champion the world has ever seen - in only my second fight as a heavyweight.

"They deliberately avoided Valuev. Maybe he was too tall, too heavy and too hard for them. But to be the greatest you can't avoid anyone."

It's a philosophy Haye has followed since he was a young kid growing up on the tough streets of Bermondsey.

At seven he would fight 11-year-olds; when he was 11 he would take on kids of 16.

"I had no problems with fights in the playground," he insisted. "The problem was having too many. I was big and strong so I ended up fighting older kids.

"But it helped me develop as a fighter. I never lost, I never got bashed up - I would always dish out the damage."

Now he's out to damage Ruiz, Klitschko and Klitschko.

They may need to ring Bentley for insurance . . .

Your comments

This article has 1 comment

Nice car haye

By maziar.. Posted April 14 2010 at 10:43 AM.

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