David Haye believes that the Klitschko brothers have nowhere left to run after he underlined his status as a genuine world-class heavyweight with an impressive ninth-round TKO of John Ruiz on Saturday night.
After unifying the cruiserweight division Haye stepped up to heavyweight to claim the WBA title with a majority points win over Nikolai Valuev last November.
Doubts remained, though, over Haye’s punching power. However, they were dispelled in his first title defence, the Londoner dropping Ruiz four times before the American’s corner finally threw in the town in the ninth.
After turning in such an impressive showing, Haye immediately set about discrediting the Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, who between them hold the division’s three other major belts.
“You've got to look at their last two opponents (Vitali’s most recent outing was against Kevin Johnson while Wladimir’s last fight was against Eddie Chambers) - pretty boring. Those guys Johnson and Chambers) were a disgrace to boxing. You have got to come in with an athlete like myself,” Haye told Sky Sports.
“I've got it all and I'm going to prove myself against the best in the world. If I hit them (the Klitschkos) with the shots I was hitting Ruiz with, both of them go over.”
As for his win over Ruiz, Haye was full of praise for his vanquished foe, who never stopped coming forward despite being on the receiving end of a succession of massive right hands.
“It was not quite according to plan. I knew if I hit him with my shots they would hurt him but he's not the kind of guy to get knocked spark out. He's developed a serious durability,” the champion said.