Boxer Haye sets sights on heavyweights after KO victory

LONDON—After unifying the world cruiserweight titles, David Haye warned Sunday that he now wants to do the same at heavyweight within three years.
Haye knocked out fellow Briton Enzo Maccarinelli in the second round to add the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) title to his World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) belts at the O2 Arena early on Sunday morning. The Englishman initially hurt Maccarinelli with a right and after more blows to the head, the Welshman was left on spaghetti legs as he staggered drunkenly around the ring, prompting referee John Keane to abandon a count and call the fight off at 2 minutes 29 seconds.
It was an explosive finish from Haye, who has now stopped 20 of his 21 victims, with one defeat and in the first defence of the WBC and WBA titles he won by halting Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck in November. But after confirming his status as the world cruiserweight number one and a knock-out specialist, the 27-year-old Londoner insists he will now step up to heavyweight where he fancies his chances against the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and WBO champion, or the other world title-holders in the not too distant future.
A bout against American Steve Cunningham, the IBF champion, to completely unify the world titles at cruiserweight does not appeal to Haye. "I'm ready to go up and take on the heavyweights now and do exactly the same by fighting the best and taking them out," Haye told a news conference. "Even if there was a Lennox Lewis up there - which there isn't - I would still be going up there. I wasn't impressed by Klitschko's last fight and would be happy to fight him.
"I said I would be number one cruiserweight in the world and I'm going to be the number one heavyweight in the world. It's over now and I'm going up to heavyweight. I won't fight Steve Cunningham because no one really has heard of him. "I'm confident I can achieve even more things as a heavyweight. It took me nine months of solid training to get me ready for one fight and there would be no struggle to make the weight.
"I'm not looking at boxing past my 31st year so I've got two and a half years to get the job done. The belts are being unified to hopefully I will only have to fight one guy to do it. People are craving an exciting heavyweight, and I'm that man." Haye, who has admitted he struggles to make the cruiserweight limit, believes Maccarinelli can regain one of the world titles at cruiserweight as he will now relinquish three of the belts.
"I had to speed things up because I was cut around my left eye but I think the result would have been the same anyway," said Haye. "Enzo can still pick up a couple of those world titles and he would beat Cunningham. Maccarinelli, 27, was left to rue leaving himself exposed to Haye's undoubted power as early as the second round as he suffered his second career defeat in the fifth defence of the WBO title.
"I made a mistake," he told a news conference. "I held my chin up in the air, something I didn't do in 12 weeks of sparring, and I got punished for it. He saw I was hurt and finished me off.—Agencies