Lennox was one of several ambassadors who attended on behalf of this collection of watches. Hublot will produce twelve different designs belonging one to each champion, who will receive the watch as a tribute to his career inside and outside the ring and the other piece will be auctioned at a historic event where all the resources generated from this auction will create the new pension for former champions who live in disgrace.

The battle between the two highest world-rated heavyweight contenders will be televised live in the U.S. exclusively on EPIX, the multiplatform premium entertainment service. EpixHD.com will stream the fight live as part of a free two-week trial offer. The live broadcast and the live stream on EPIX and EpixHD.com, respectively, will begin with the main event at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT.

Following the Povetkin-Chagaev WBA heavyweight championship, the broadcast and live stream will continue with undefeated World Boxing Organization (WBO) and WBA Intercontinental heavyweight champion ROBERT HELENIUS defending his regional titles against former WBO heavyweight champion SIARHEI LIAKHOVICH.

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By Phil Barnett, PA

IT IS more than eight years ago now but Lennox Lewis can still remember the feeling of being caught in a clinch with a Klitschko.

Britain’s former world heavyweight champion fought his final fight against Vitali Klitschko in Los Angeles in June 2003. Shaken in the early rounds, Lewis rallied, cut Klitschko then rocked him. Klitschko began to grab Lewis to try to buy time.

“I hurt him and he collapsed on to me,” said Lewis. “It was like he was on me and I was saying ‘Oh man, now I have to push away 250lb and then throw a power punch’. It is just draining.”

Tomorrow it will be David Haye’s turn to feel the weight of a Klitschko when he faces Vitali’s younger brother, Wladimir, in their world heavyweight title unification clash at the Imtech Arena, here in Hamburg.

And Lewis, who will be at the fight as an analyst for Sky Box Office, feels the key to the fight will be whether Haye can avoid having his strength sapped by Klitschko’s holding tactics.

Haye, 30, is an explosive puncher but he is also a blown-up cruiserweight who could be vulnerable to the jab-and-grab style favoured by his bigger opponent.

“Both men are boxers who like to wait for their opportunity,” said Lewis. “David’s going to be moving, trying to figure out how to get in there. When he does get in there, he has to throw punches in bunches and then get out of the way.

“He can’t allow Wladimir to lean on him. That is one of the big mistakes a lot of people have made against him. They allowed Wladimir to slap their hands down and put his weight on them.

“Wladimir usually roughs his opponents up. His trainer Manny Steward will say ‘Rough him up, put your weight on him, push him back’.

“But David is pretty wise. He knows he cannot afford anybody else’s weight on him. He knows that would drain him.

“I remember that from when I fought his brother, so I know this is a big factor in this fight. He can’t allow Wladimir to hold him or put his weight on him.”

Lewis said he still feels in great shape and occasionally has to fight the temptation to return to the ring. He is not an admirer of Wladimir, 35, and believes Vitali, the WBC champion and holder of the linear title, is by far the more dangerous of the two brothers.

And despite the criticism Haye has had for refusing to shake Wladimir’s hand and vowing to decapitate him, Lewis feels Haye’s antics might already have taken their toll.

“It is funny because Wladimir is stoical,” Lewis said. “There is a stiffness about him. He says that David is not going to bother him and that ‘when I get in the ring with you, I am going to show you who’s boss’.

“But David is playing with him. He is saying things to him that would bother me. He is saying things in interviews that would make me jump across the chair at him. Wladimir seems like he’s handling it but he’s burning up inside.

“David could be psyching himself up because you can’t speak it and then not go in there and do it. He could be getting into Wladimir’s head, getting him so wound up that he is stiff in there or expels all his energy in the first few rounds.

“Haye’s brought excitement back to the division. Nobody has talked to Wladimir like that for a long time. Certain things he says is catchy stuff for the rest of the world. He is the Muhammad Ali of his era.”

Lewis pointed out that Wladimir had lost to fighters like Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster and that the memory of being stopped by them would still be “a chink in his armour”.

“Wladimir doesn’t have an iron chin. He has been knocked out by mediocre boxers,” added Lewis.

“So if David can get his right hand in there, shockingly and with power and speed, well, it doesn’t really then take that much of a punch to knock a person out. And David has the ability to deliver that punch.

“We know that if Wladimir gets hit on the chin, he will tumble.

“If you look at it on paper Wladimir is supposed to win, but my heart goes with David.”

David Haye versus Wladimir Klitschko has been a while in the making, but the clash of styles and character makes it worth the wait for Saturday night’s heavyweight showdown in Hamburg.

Klitschko’s big advantage is his size – his height and reach as a natural heavyweight. I would add Emanuel Steward, his trainer, my old trainer, as another big plus.
Steward will be encouraging Klitschko to use all his physical advantages, and always has wise counsel. Haye’s trainer Adam Booth is impressive up to a point, having taken his man from a diamond in the rough to a star, but Steward is the trainer of champions. Only Freddie Roach matches him at present in world boxing .
Klitschko should be the one winning the fight. But it is not as simple as that.

Haye is a good boxer, he moves well, he looks the part and has unbelievable speed. If he puts all of that together, he should be very successful in the fight. He boxed the way he was supposed to against the 7 ft Nikolai Valuev. Haye has a couple of elements of Muhammad Ali about him. Some people have different ways of psyching themselves up. My opponents used to psyche me up. You want to eat my children? OK, let’s go, that’s enough to get motivated.

Haye talks it: “I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that”. All he is really talking about is the things he wants to do against Klitschko. He is not saying it for no reason. He believes in himself. As did Ali.
Here’s a key point for Haye. I noticed when I boxed Vitali Klitschko, one year after I had taken on Mike Tyson, was that I was up against a guy who was 6ft 8in tall and almost 18st. When I hit him and hurt him, he fell on me. I had to push him off, almost lift him off, and then hit him. It was hard work.
What I am saying is that Haye should avoid a clinch with Klitschko, because Steward will have told him to put his weight on Haye and he will do it at every opportunity if he gets the chance
Haye has to use his fast feet to get himself into attacking positions, and then get away. If he gets an opening, he has to jump on Klitschko. But he should box him, and bring him in to the later rounds. If he avoids being leaned on, he could do that.

Klitschko is not known as being a driving force, or for pushing the fight. He is a counter puncher to a certain degree, even though he works behind the jab. Haye is also a counter puncher, and so somebody will need to take a position quickly in the fight. I see Klitschko as being more likely to do that.
Having worked with Emanuel, I see him instructing Wladimir to command the ring. He’ll tell him to “go strong”, that he is the champion and that he should impose himself. He has a younger, smaller man in front of him, and he cannot afford to look bad, so he has to go out there and show ring generalship.
And that could work in Haye’s favour. I am a big fan of “you can’t hit what you can’t catch”. If Klitschko goes out there and looks to hit Haye but is unable to do it because of Haye’s movement, that will play into the smaller man’s hands.

If Klitschko throws that jab out without making much impact, it could be a difficult night for him. But if he can control the fight with his jab, it should be an easy time for him.
Klitschko should have been getting some of these guys turning up for paydays out of there more quickly than he has been – knock ’em out! Heavyweight boxing should be a knockout, where one man imposes his will on the other and fans can feel good about the performance. But Klitschko doesn’t fight that way – he batters his opponents slowly. That means that Haye will have some time in the fight to unload.

Should Haye continue his career if he wins? Let him fight Wlad first and see how he feels. If Haye feels he wants to walk away, he should not force it. But you know what – I’m sure if he beats one brother, the other, Vitali, will come looking for him.

Lennox Lewis was speaking with Gareth A Davies

The bout will take place in Imtech Arena in Hamburg Germany and will also be broadcast live on HBO at 4:45 EST for American audiences. Klitschko (55-3, 45 KO’s) is the current IBO and WBO Heavyweight Champion and Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) is the WBA Heavyweight Championship belt. Tis bout will unify three quarters of the heavyweight belts. Vital Klitschko is the current holder of the WBC belt.