David Haye may be Derek Chisora’s promoter now but there was once a time when the pair hated each other.
In 2012, following Chisora’s heavyweight title loss to Vitali Klitschko in Munich, the two Brits got into an almighty confrontation which shook the boxing world.
Chisora accused Haye of ‘glassing’ him and threatened to shoot the ‘Hayemaker’ in the brawl. Haye’s then-promoter, Adam Booth, sustained cuts to his face in the melee.
Police detained Chisora but released him without charge. However, he had his British boxing license revoked.
The two were hell-bent on a bout and fortunately for them, the Luxembourg Boxing Federation came to their rescue so they could fight five months later.
Haye recalled on talkSPORT: “That’s how the whole fight kicked off. Myself and Derek got into an ‘altercation’ – let’s just say – at the press conference – bottles thrown. It was absolute mayhem.
“We had 200 of the world’s press and media there, it was front page news, there was talk for both of us to be banned.
“The Luxembourg Boxing Federation came to the rescue and said ‘if you want to have a boxing match, we’ll license the fight’… Frank Warren put on a mega event at Upton Park and it was a great fight.
Haye won the fight in London by technical knockout in the fifth round but much of the build-up to the bout saw the pair having to be kept separate.
But was the original brawl in Munich staged? Haye insists it wasn’t.
He added: “No it wasn’t organised in any way shape or form. I went there for a completely different reason to what actually transpired that night.
“I had to get out of the country, Derek Chisora got arrested after that… it was an absolute mess.
“But… what great promotion for a boxing match! No other sport can have Interpol chasing you around the world and then be good promotion.
“Come fight night, the pay-per-view records went through the roof, it was a great, great night.”
Haye also revealed that he has watched the fight back with Chisora, who hadn’t seen it back before.
He said: “Derek Chisora had never actually watched that fight back through and we watched that back together so it’s interesting hearing how he we were feeling during different points of that fight, he hit me with some big shots and vice versa.
“It’s nice now knowing how friendly we are with each other, we work with each other on a daily basis, but we were arch enemies.”
Listen to the full David Haye interview on Jim White above!
