Wladimir Klitschko Says He Won Coin Toss With Brother to Fight David Haye

In an interview with Luke Furman, Wladimir Klitschko has explained why he, instead of brother Vitali, is fighting David Haye on July 2:

"We had a conversation about it because both of us wanted to fight him. My brother told me 'Let me take this man.' At the end of the day, we tossed a coin and I won [in 2009]. So then it was set on June 20th [of 2009] and as you know the fight didn't happen. We were going to fight and then he said 'no, I want to fight Vitali' and it was set up for September [of 2009]," Klitschko said.

... "So this time I told Vitali, 'brother, I was first and you were second. Now it's my turn, and by the way David Haye doesn't want to fight you. You hit too hard, you're too tough for him and David Haye wants to take on the weakest one of the two brothers.'

Wladimir (55-3, 49 KO) defends his legitimate heavyweight championship plus his IBF and WBO belts (and IBO belt) against Haye (25-1, 23 KO), who holds the WBA title, this coming Saturday in one of the biggest fights of 2011 and the biggest heavyweight fight in nearly a decade. Current odds favor Klitschko, but not by the wide margin that might have been expected given Klitschko's dominant run in the last six years.

Bad Left Hook will have much more on Klitschko vs Haye today and the rest of the week leading up to the fight.