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Haye v Chisora: Will you be watching?

As David Haye and Dereck Chisora sat at Upton Park to announce their July 14 showdown, they were separated by an iron fence.

A publicity stunt, yes, but a reflection of the extraordinary hostility that brought about this contest.

In February, Haye, who at the time was retired and working as a pundit on Chisora's heavyweight title fight against champion Vitali Klitschko, gatecrashed the post-fight press conference.

The trash talking quickly turned into something more sinister, a brawl broke out, glass was smashed, British boxing was disgraced, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In the aftermath of that collision Chisora was questioned by German police, and had his boxing licence suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control.

Haye headed off to America, seemingly scarcely unmoved by the scale of the events in Munich.

Some said that a fight in between the ring was inevitable — that the brawl, as ugly as it was, had whetted the public appetite for a contest too much to ignore.

Promoter Frank Warren did not ignore it — Haye came out of retirement, and the fight between the two Londoners was booked in London.

If you needed any reminder, however, of how contentious staging the fight is, consider the fact that British boxing has not sanctioned it. Warren has turned to the Luxembourg Boxing Federation to sanction the bout, a loophole which raises the question of whether the British Boxing Board of Control has any, you know, control.

The consequences of this fight may one day be more about the way the sport is run than the result of the bout itself.

Haye, for his part, says he was motivated to fight by the fans who approached him.

"Slowly but surely people kept coming up to me in the streets, asking when I was going to fight Dereck in the ring," claimed Haye at the conference. "At first I wasn't interested but in the end I thought "why not?"

"He is the ideal opponent for me," Haye added. "I am so glad he has got a good chin because if he didn't have a good chin he would be blasted out in first round. This means I will give him a nice, slow, concussive beating. I tried to knock him out in Munich and this is the opportunity to shut him up."

Chisora, for his part, referred to the Munich brawl as if it were merely another boxing contest.

"David: you are winning 1-0," said Chisora, "but come July I am coming to whoop your ass."

Most of the public were, in public at least, disgusted by what happened on that fateful night in Germany.

But if they want to see these two settle their differences in the ring, either in the stadium or on television, they will need to fork out their money to do so.

The fight is made — the deal is done.

If you don't want to see it, you won't be obliged to. But with this fight set to court an enormous crowd, the only question remaining is: Will you be watching?

Have your say in the comments section below!