Dubai: David Haye is back in the UAE and he took time out to host XPRESS on a special ‘hard hat’ tour of his high-end exclusive Hayemaker Gym that’s being readied for a grand new-year’s opening at Downtown Dubai.
A former WBA heavyweight and a unified world cruiserweight champion with just two losses in a career spanning 28 fights so far, the just-turned 33 year old spoke of his UAE ambitions and his upcoming bout.
How excited are you about finally setting up shop in Dubai after so many visits?
Very excited. I knew I wanted to have a gym that was breathtaking. There are many boxers over the years that have had gyms, the typical clichéd boxing gyms. I wanted to go way against the tide, I wanted to do something what people haven’t experienced before. It’s taken a long time, a lot money and a lot of drama but we are finally here now.
How prominent will boxing be part of the gym’s programs?
I don’t actually want to inundate people with the boxing because not everybody is into boxing and I understand that. This is a health club not a traditional boxing gym. I mean I am not got going to get people to teach them to be a boxer but it will have the facility for someone who wanted to train there.
Is fitness going to be your life after boxing?
Yes the majority once I stop boxing. There has been a lot of interest from around the world. Bollywood star John Abraham and I have been talking about doing some collaboration, about finding a couple of sites in Mumbai. It’s a whole new project.
Do you fancy a fight yourself here in Dubai?
I would love to have a boxing match here in the UAE. It’s got the infrastructure, it has everything it needs to have a big fight. I will have to promote the fight myself. So after I fight Tyson Fury on the 8th of February, I can fight who I want when I want, I am a free agent and I can come and go as I please. So having a fight here is very doable and I would love to actually have a boxing match over here.
If anyone’s been to any of my fights, they will know that there’s a lot of Hollywood stars, a lot of people from all over the world that come to my event because it’s not just a boxing match, its an event and I believe that hasn’t been done in the UAE. I would like to be the first to do that.
How excited are you about facing Tyson fury? He’s done some talking lately?
Yeah very excited. It’s a fight that was postponed from September so there’s a lot of anticipation of people looking forward to seeing how it goes and I am looking forward to it to doing a good job on this young guy, taking his unbeaten record from him. He’s been talking a lot.
He’s been talking some big talk but he’s going to come unstuck when the first bell rings, that’s for sure. I will be in fantastic condition and I will be out to outwit him and out manoeuvre him and prove that it’s the size of the fight in the dog and not the dog in the fight.
