It sounds like something from the playground, a girl asks two boys who would win in a fight if they were ever going to throw hands.
But here, in 2021, it’s the storyline to an actual pay-per-view undercard fight.
David Haye meets his old friend, sparring partner and client Joe Fournier on the Oscar De La Hoya-Vitor Belfort September 11 Triller card at the Staples Center in a fight that was made over a few alcoholic beverages at the Greek resort of Mykonos.
“A girl asked who’d win a fight between me and him,” Haye recalled. “I found it quite amusing and said it might be a draw, trying to gee him up and encourage him a little bit. He was a little bit pissed [drunk] and said, ‘You would have done for sure back in the day but not today, with your Achilles, your back, your shoulders, both your biceps have popped off, I’d stop you if we were to fight now.’ I thought he was joking but it transpired he wasn’t.”
Fournier was referring to Haye’s injury-ravaged body that caused him long spells of inactivity in a career that saw him win world titles at heavyweight and cruiserweight.
And while he disagrees with Fournier’s assertions, he conceded his September opponent does know him as well as anyone else.
“I didn’t think it would happen,” the Hayemaker admitted. “We had a bit of a disagreement. We’ve been close, he flew with me to Germany right before the [Tony] Bellew fight for [medical] treatment and he’s been around me and he knows everything, he knows how fragile my body is, the rehabilitation, he’s been around.”
They have also holidayed together, Haye managed Fournier for some of Joe’s own pro career and they have sparred countless rounds together.
“I’ve sparred him loads,” continued Haye. “I used to spar with him before I sparred anyone else. He was the first person I sparred with, he was lighter than me, quick, fast hands and durable but he doesn’t realize that the rounds he did with me… I always used to start against light-heavyweights and cruiserweights just to practice getting hit, to get my timing, taking shots… I used to take a lot of punches to toughen my body up and ride them, then you go to the big guys. I’d never jump straight in there with the big guys or some giant with my timing not being right or else I’d be knocked spark out. The smaller guys would speed me up, so he was the smaller guy I’d spar with first and I managed him at the time so I used to gee him up and say how well he’d done but I think in his mind he was hitting me with shots because he was better than me. Maybe that’s where he got the confidence from. Then he sees me fight Tony Bellew and he beat me twice and he [Joe] was landing shots and he’s just miscalculated the whole thing…”
But once the drunken talk flowed, the challenges started to become slightly more real.
“I said all right, next time you’re in London we will get on 18oz gloves, headguards and I’ll give you four rounds and I guarantee you tap out before four rounds. He said, What? You think I’m going to do that behind closed doors? If I get in the ring with you it’s going to be for real, 10oz gloves on. It was drunken talk and he said Triller have got Oscar De La Hoya out of retirement, and they would love to get the Hayemaker out there and the numbers on my last fight were good so I’d reckon they’d have it as a special attraction for one night only. I said I very much doubt it.”
Then the contract arrived and Haye knew the fight was on and that Fournier was not just winding him up.
“Who doesn’t need another pay per view blockbuster to box Joe Fournier,” he joked. “[It’s the] Same as Mayweather v Logan Paul, same reason as him. It’s effectively five weeks of focus and dedication and I feel I’m being amply compensated.”
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