‘I’ll take his head off’ warns fired-up Haye
ULTRA-confident David Haye says he plans to take John Ruiz’s head off when he makes his first heavyweight title defence against the American on Saturday.
The Hayemaker has been unusually quiet in the build-up to the Manchester showdown, but exploded back into life in familiar fashion yesterday, just 72 hours before stepping into the ring.
Haye, who once upset the Klitschko brothers by wearing a T-shirt depicting them with severed heads, continued the theme by claiming the reason Ruiz has arrived in England without his family is because he doesn’t want them to see the extent of his injuries.
“I wouldn’t bring my family either, if I knew I was going to get decapitated,” Haye said. “He’s going to get knocked out and maybe subconsciously he knows that. That’s why he told his family to stay at home.
“I’m bred to do this, I’m a fighter through and through. I know what it’s like to be in hard fights, I know what it’s like to dig dip and I’m expecting to have to dig deep.
“I’m mentally prepared for a tough, gruelling fight – but a fight he will end up unconscious in.”
Only one person, David Tua, has managed to knock out 38-year-old Ruiz in his 54 professional fights, but despite fighting at heavyweight for only the fourth time, Haye insists he has the power to rewrite history.
“When I climb through those ropes I’m in the best physical condition I can be in,” he added. “I’m expecting a real tough night; it’s going to be exciting but I am going to knock him out.”
Ruiz, however, has gone toe-to-toe with big names such as Evander Holyfield, James Toney, Roy Jones and Hasim Rahman in his distinguished career, and the American is confident of adding another victim to the list.
“I’m no young stripling but at the same time I feel great and at peace. Ive never been so in tune with the sport throughout my whole career as I am now,” he said.