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‘He comes over to me, in my face, what am I supposed to do?’
Haye admits throwing punch while holding glass bottle
David Haye has insisted he was acting in self-defence during his press conference brawl with Dereck Chisora in Munich in the early hours of 19 February.
Chisora started the confrontation and Haye landed the first blow with a fist clutching a glass bottle. Haye then fought with Chisora’s trainer and attempted to hit him on the head with a camera tripod.
Chisora claimed Haye had “glassed” him and repeatedly vowed to “shoot” and “burn” the former WBA champion. He has since apologised for his actions while Haye has not.
Haye reiterated on That Sunday Night Show he was acting in self-defence. “He comes over to me, in my face, I feel his knuckles in my face, what am I supposed to do? I’ve got to close the show,” the 31-year-old said.
“Look at all the camera angles. I had no other option. I could have stood there with my hands by my side and got punched, kicked or spat at. The guy has said on national television he is going to beat me up and break my jaw. Why wouldn’t I defend myself?
“I’ve got no desire to fight Dereck Chisora inside the ring or outside the ring. He’s lost his last three fights [the last three of four].”
Haye accepts the incident looked even worse because he was holding a bottle when he punched Chisora. “I can understand how that looks but I was there as part of the media. It wasn’t a beer, either – it was a bottle of lemonade,” he said.
“It was a glass bottle but I didn’t hit him with that bottle – I hit him with my fist. If I’d had my mobile phone in my hand, it would have been a mobile phone. If I’d had a hot dog in my hand, it would have been [that]. If I could rewind time, of course I wouldn’t go down there [to the press conference]. But you can’t rewind time.”
Asked what he would say to Chisora now, Haye replied: “I’d say probably ‘check yourself into some anger management clinic’. I’m being serious. It’s not a joke – he genuinely has problems with his anger.”
Chisora was arrested, questioned and bailed by Munich police, with detectives still waiting to speak to Haye. Haye apparently went into hiding immediately after the incident before jetting off to Las Vegas for a holiday.
Chisora, who has a history of controversial incidents ranging from biting an opponent to slapping Vitali Klitschko at the weigh-in before their fight in Munich, risked further headlines on Saturday by claiming that he, too, was heading for Vegas. “On my way to the airport. Guess where?” he tweeted.
He then added: “On my way to Las Vegas” and posted a picture of himself on a plane. Chisora was later ringside for the WBA heavyweight title fight between Alexander Povetkin and Marco Huck in Stuttgart, Germany. It is not known where he headed after the fight.
