David Haye captured the WBA heavyweight title with a majority twelve round decision over Nikolai Valuev at Arena Nuernberger Versicherung in Nuremberg, Germany. Haye said that he injured his right hand in the second or third round. The injury prevented him from throwing too many rights, so he tried to win the fight by moving more often and mostly using his left hand.

“I damaged my hand in the second or third round so I couldn’t throw too many right hands so I tried to win it extensively with my left hand. My hand is very tender and very store and that's why I used it very irregular. I found a strategy. I didn’t train to do that. I trained to be more aggressive but I hurt my left hand and I had to take my foot of the gas and win it clever and win rounds, and it worked out,” Haye said.

Haye said the world title win means everything to him. He wanted to emulate the achievement by one of his idols, Evander Holyfield, by moving up as the undisputed cruiserweight champion to capture the heavyweight title.

“It means everything to me. Ever since I was a little baby, I said I would be heavyweight champion of the world and the dream has come true. I fought the biggest heavyweight champion in history. He was very strong I hit him with some big shots, and only in the last round did they seem to hurt him and stun him,” Haye said.

During the entire pre-fight hype, Haye battered Valuev with insults but he showed him a lot of respect once the fight was over.

“I have full respect for Valuev. I didn’t show too much respect before the fight. He was strong and showed that he could take some good shots. And he’s a very strong man. I believe that he can win back the title at another time,” Haye said.