David Haye must split prize pot or forget about the Klitschkos

Still the best: David Haye enjoys the moment after successfully defending his WBA title on Saturday
David Smith13 April 2012

David Haye was today warned that a world heavyweight title unification fight against one of the Klitschko brothers will not take place unless he agrees to an equal share of pay-per-view television income in Britain that could be worth £20million.

Haye followed up a quickfire defence of his WBA championship against Audley Harrison at the MEN Arena in Manchester on Saturday by demanding a unification bout with either Wladimir Klitschko, holder of the IBF and WBO titles, or the Ukrainian's older sibling, Vitali, who has the WBC belt.

But while Adam Booth, Haye's trainer and chief negotiator, claimed a showdown with at least one of the Klitschkos will definitely happen in 2011, new doubts have been raised over the chances of contracts being agreed.

Bernd Bönte, manager of the Germany-based Klitschkos, insisted a Klitschko versus Haye fight "will never happen" unless all worldwide broadcasting income was evenly split.

He added: "And it would not be 50-50 if Haye was to keep the British pay-per-view money and we only keep the German money, which is way less.

"So either both sides put everything in one pot, or that fight will never happen. It would be a massive fight, maybe the biggest fight you can do in boxing at the moment, and we are ready to go. If it is 50-50 of everything, we can sign the deal next week."

While Sky rarely reveals pay-per-view subscription figures, it is understood over 700,000 subscribers generated income of up to £11m from Saturday's clash. From that, Haye is thought to have earned £5m while Harrison banked around £1.2m for landing just one punch before the former Olympic gold medalist was stopped 113 seconds into the third round.

The Klitschko brothers are backed by RTL, Germany's largest private free-to-air television company. RTL can boast far larger viewing figures than Sky, with 15 million tuning in to Vitali Klitschko's points win over American Shannon Briggs in Hamburg last month.

However, as Bönte acknowledged, rights payments from RTL for a Haye-Klitschko fight will fall far short of what Sky can generate. That fact would lend weight to Booth insisting Haye should keep all the Sky money, Wladimir or Vitali can keep RTL's cash and other broadcasting income from around the world should be evenly divided.

Booth said: "To be honest, I say David is the bigger draw in this fight now. Here is a guy who has got the attention of the boxing world."

Haye, who stressed he is sticking to his plan to quit the ring by his 31st birthday on 13 October next year, said: "There is nowhere else for these guys to go. If they want to fight for big money, they've got to come for me."

Booth added: "They want a defining fight and David wants a defining fight. David will be retiring next year, so they haven't got a lot of time. David will take out Wladimir before summer and take care of Vitali after the summer."

At least one of those fights, were they to happen, could be staged at Wembley Stadium. Bonte said the gate money generated by Wembley would be an attraction. He added: "We want the biggest money in the pot and if the biggest money comes from a sold-out Wembley, we'll be there."

First, 34-year-old Wladimir must defend his titles against Londoner Dereck Chisora in Mannheim on 11 December. Vitali, 39, is set to defend his title early in 2011 against the winner of next month's eliminator between Cuban Odlanier Solis and Ray Austin of the United States in Florida.

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