Boxing: 'Home' judges not a factor in David Haye fight says trainer
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Your support makes all the difference.Trainer Adam Booth believes David Haye has no reason to fear he will be stung by a judging controversy against Wladimir Klitschko, vowing: "This fight does not go to points".
Haye faces Klitschko in a huge heavyweight unification fight in the Ukrainian's adopted homeland of Germany on Saturday, just a week after fellow Englishman Matthew Macklin suffered a hotly-disputed defeat in Cologne.
Brummie Macklin seemed to have done more than enough to take the WBA middleweight title from Felix Sturm only for two of the judges to award it to the champion by a wide margin and send him home empty-handed.
The controversy reinforced Germany's reputation for questionable judging but ahead of WBA champion Haye's unification scrap with IBF/WBO champion Klitschko in Hamburg, Booth shrugged off the latest furore.
"It doesn't worry me at all," he told Press Association Sport. "This fight does not go to points."
Haye's camp have unsurprisingly kept their tactical cards close to their chests in the build-up to the fight.
Known as a puncher, Haye controlled his aggressive instincts to beat Russian giant Nikolay Valuev in 2009 before reverting to type against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison last year.
He has vowed to produce something "completely different" at the Imtech Arena this time and Booth said cryptically: "It's not the new David Haye.
"It will be a completely different David Haye but there are certain elements that don't change - speed and heavy-handedness."
Booth is paying no attention to bookmakers and experts who regard his man as a heavy underdog.
"I don't think in terms of underdogs and what the odds-makers say," he said. "It's a two-horse race in a fight and I just think about the fight itself, the dangers and what you've got to do to win.
"Odds mean nothing."
Klitschko, meanwhile, has warned Haye he will have the last laugh as he shrugged off his opponent's latest "childish" publicity stunts.
Haye has continually sought to goad his Germany-based nemesis in the build-up with a succession of distasteful comments and publicity stunts.
Yesterday he Tweeted a link to a film featuring an Adolf Hitler character that has mock subtitles referring to preparations for Saturday's fight.
The mind games continued at yesterday afternoon's public work-out when he trained in a southpaw stance rather than his usual orthodox position and hardly threw a punch before taking a bow and leaving.
Klitschko shrugged off his rival's actions.
"It's childish," he said. "I have to call it what it is. It's childish. I can't even take it seriously. It's not even funny any more.
"It's serious business, it hurts, it won't be funny for David Haye.
"There is an English saying: 'He who laughs last, laughs loudest'."
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