Chisora: Haye clash about 'pride'

Dereck Chisora believes his controversial grudge match against David Haye this Saturday is a matter of pride.

The two British heavyweights will meet this Saturday at Upton Park in the culmination of a feud which errupted when Chisora and the then-retired Haye brawled following the former's WBC title loss to Vitali Klitschko in February.

But while many in the boxing fraternity believe the winner of the contest will go on to face either Klitschko or his brother Wladimir, who beat Haye to retain his WBO and IBF titles and win the WBA crown, Chisora thinks otherwise. Chisora said at a pre-match conference call: "This is about pride."

He continued: "This ain't about 'the winner of this can fight the Klitschkos'. Even when David Haye went to fight the Klitschkos, he had nothing. It's a big fight, everybody's watching it, it's going to be explosive, it's going to be amazing and I'm well prepared for this fight."

Haye missed the conference call, writing on Twitter: "Just woke up! Apparently I slept through a press media call! Hope I didn't miss out on anything interesting coming out of Del Boys mouth.."

The no-show irritated Chisora, who labelled his foe a "drama queen". The Zimbabwe-born fighter is an underdog heading into the bout after losing in three of his last four fights but he received praise after strong performances against Robert Helenius and Klitschko, with many believing he had done enough to beat the former.

And Chisora is adamant that his style will give former two-weight world champion Haye problems. He added: "I'm going to give you a great fight, it's going to be a great fight. I'll take nothing away from David Haye, he comes in in great shape, he trains hard. Two great athletes in that ring and we'll see what will happen.

"I like to give it my all, I like to be tired after my own fight, I want to push myself to boundaries I've never been before. It's a fight. I'm not looking to box him. I want to fight, whatever the round is, I want to fight and I want to punch him.

"David Haye does not know what he's got himself involved in, this is going to be a fight! I'm going to be all over him like a baby's rash, he's never fought anybody like me."

Chisora had his licence suspended by the the British Boxing Board of Control after his actions in Munich, where he also slapped Klitschko at the weigh-in of their fight before spitting water at Wladimir shortly before the bout. The fight is therefore sanctioned by the little-known Luxembourg Boxing Federation after Haye agreed to come out of retirement.