Haye announces title defense against Ruiz
It will be the first world heavyweight title fight in the United Kingdom for almost a decade.
The last world title fight to take place in Britain was in 2000 when undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis beat South African Francois Botha in two one-sided rounds at the now-defunct London Arena.
There are inbuilt dangers for Haye in this defence against the 38-year-old former heavyweight world champion John Ruiz, who has forty-four wins, eight defeats and one draw in his career, and who has campaigned at world level for 10 years. Haye has no rematch clause, so if he loses he slips to the bottom of the heap, and yet the 29 year-old insisted that "walking the tightrope without a safety net" was what excited him, and would get the best out of him.
"Some fighters fear putting it all on the table, when we were dealing with the Klitschko brothers, they wanted a rematch if they lost and a third tie-in to fight the other brother. Ridiculous." said Haye.
Haye's next two fights are under the shadow of promoters Sauerland, who have a rights agreement to promote the British heavyweight after he defeated the seven foot tall Russian giant Nikolai Valuev last November to capture the WBA heavyweight title.
Adam Booth, Haye's long-time trainer evinced the dangers Ruiz poses.
"John Ruiz has been in this business a long time. He's a mature fighter who excels at making talented fighters look ordinary. He represents a banana skin in David's long-term plans to unify the heavyweight division. Looking beyond Ruiz would be a huge mistake."
Haye will undergo "an arduous training camp" ahead of what his team consider "a tricky" mandatory defence.
"I'm now heavyweight champion, something I have striven for all my life. Now the challengers are coming after me. Ruiz is very underrated. He has only been stopped once in 50-odd fights. He's very adept at grinding opponents down, and finds a way to smudge your work. He's a pressure fighter, he won't try to box me, he'll try to get in close, rough me up and slow me down. He'll try and take me into the trenches, but I'm a different animal, and I'm going to use speed and power. I not only want to beat him, I want to knock him out." said Haye.