It's all in the genes

As David Haye prepares to make his first defence of his WBA heavyweight title in Manchester, Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian takes a look at the journey of David Haye under the guidance of his father Deron.

David Haye loves to fight. It is in his genes, handed down from his karate-fighting father, Deron, and, he admits, probably resides in those of his own young son, Cassius. However, when he steps through the ropes at the MEN Arena against the American John Ruiz tonight, Haye's father will be hoping he has retained some of the ring smarts he showed in bamboozling Nikolai Valuev in Nuremberg to win the WBA heavyweight title in November.

"My dad used to teach martial arts in Waterloo," he said not far from there the other day, in a gym uncannily similar to the one in a railway arch where he learned his trade for Fitzroy Lodge in north Lambeth as an amateur.

"We always argue over my boxing. There is a clash of opinions nine times out of 10, technical bits and pieces. He's a massive fan of Lennox Lewis and the way he boxed, more cautiously, on the outside. And all the time I want to get inside.

"He really loved the Valuev fight. That was punch-perfect for him. As his son, he doesn't want to see me take unnecessary punishment. He wants me to hit them and not get hit. At all. Ever."

I saw Haye Snr's concern for David in a slightly different light one night 11 years ago when the rising star was knocked out in the amateurs by a single blow from the light-hitting Jim Twite. Haye was inconsolable in the changing room afterwards. He just wanted to walk away from the sport he had lit up like a firecracker, the next Big Thing. As he moved to go home by the back door, Deron, a fierce presence, insisted he walk back through the hall and confront his friends and many fans. He did.

Had he not done so, it is not inconceivable that Haye would have been finished with boxing there and then. Since he was a skinny 10-year-old under the tutelage of Mick Carney at Fitzroy Lodge, he wanted to be the heavyweight champion of the world. Getting knocked out by Twite was not part of his plan but it says much about his resolve that he recovered from the blow to his chin and his ego. He'd been living the life. So, he knuckled down – for a while. He had hooked up with Adam Booth by then and they left the Lodge, determined to make their own way. When he turned pro, all went smoothly until, after partying again, he was reminded of the dangers of his sport by Carl Thompson. The 40-year-old rock from Manchester, very much a wrecker of favourites, stopped the breathless kid in five.

There followed another examination of his conviction. In 13 fights since then, Haye has grown into the man his father always wanted him to be, a disciplined and dedicated practitioner in a dangerous undertaking.

Haye loves that danger still, though. It is what will turn him from the relaxed, media-friendly character and prankster known to the public into a fighting animal. For those who have witnessed the transformation in the dressing room, just a few moments before a fight, it is scary.

Most fighters are like that, even his dad's laid-back hero, Lennox Lewis. But the former champion also warns Haye against succumbing to his instincts against Ruiz. "Lennox knows he's a tough guy and he says as long as I do what I do and don't get involved, no clash of heads, that sort of thing, I will beat him.

"But nothing matters unless I win this fight. You need to stay hungry, and not allow someone like John Ruiz to come over and mess you up in front of all your fans."