Thursday 25 August 2016 12:32, UK
Trainer Don Charles has told David Haye he should be ashamed of his behaviour during the infamous brawl with Dereck Chisora more than four years ago.
Charles was in the thick of the action when the Londoners went to war at a press conference in Munich following Chisora's unsuccessful challenge for Vitali Klitschko's WBC heavyweight title in February 2012.
Haye went on to stop Chisora in five rounds at West Ham United's Upton Park in July 2012 in a bout licensed by the Luxembourg Boxing Federation, following the British Boxing Board of Control's decision to revoke Chisora's licence.
Charles told Sky Sports: "There was so much animosity between Dereck and Haye. Haye ridiculed him, saying he was a bum, a journeyman and a loser and that got under Dereck's skin and it got under my skin too as a coach.
"That was before the punch in the mouth. He came into that room calling Dereck a loser. Yes, we've lost fights but don't come in there disrespecting the guy.
"I was telling security to get rid of him and that he was a salesman because we're there and it's our moment. He came in disrespecting Dereck, who'd just had a hard 12-round fight. I believe he came in there to goad Klitschko and he was trying to get a fight with Vitali.
"Dereck had just finished a gruelling 12 rounds and then you've got a guy who'd already lost to one of the Klitschkos come into the room. Who the hell are you? Dereck obviously got up to tell him to say it to his face.
"Haye is a tremendously quick puncher and he left hooked me but guess what? Shame on him because when he punched me I was 50 years old and he still couldn't drop me with a left hook.
"I wasn't fighting with the guy. He just swung at me. He was afraid. He struck Dereck with a bottle in his hand. To my surprise, I jumped in between and asked him what he was doing and then it was 'bang' - a vicious left hook."
Chisora was in action again in Germany in May, when he was narrowly outpointed by European champion Kubrat Pulev. Charles will now oversee his return in Stockholm next month and there's an all-British showdown with Dillian Whyte pencilled in for December.
Reflecting on when he first met 'Del Boy', Charles said: "It was at a petrol station. My friend noticed he was wearing a boxing T-shirt and we asked him if he was a boxer and he said he was. I was putting petrol in my car and my friend told him if he knew what was good for him, to go check that man over there. That man being me.
"I could hear the conversation but I wasn't involved and it was only when he was in the same shop paying for his petrol. I asked him if he was a boxer and he said 'yeah.' He asked where my gym was and I said Finchley and he said there weren't any there apart from his amateur club. I told him I'd only just received the keys.
"I told him to give me a call and a week later, he did. I hadn't even built my gym. It was an underground car park. There was one bag hanging from a piece of rope and a broken mirror. We used to do sit-ups on cardboard and it was straight out of a Rocky movie."
Listen to Don Charles' full interview on this week's Toe 2 Toe podcast. Click here for more.
