PAY-PER-VIEW RUSH FOR 'BRITISH ALI'.

Byline: JEFF POWELL 

THE sweat had hardly been mopped off the ring, but already promoters were jostling for the services of boxing's new hottest property.

One even dared to liken David Haye to Muhammad Ali, such was the post-fight frenzy after he brought the world heavyweight title back to Britain.

Haye's earnings started to rocket before he had even won his crown, as a late rush to buy the fight on pay-per-view television caused all three Sky call centres to crash.

The Londoner was in the process of picking up a bonus predicted to approach [pounds sterling]3million as Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy promotions, watched him dance rings round the biggest heavyweight champion of all.

Schaefer, the Hayemaker's U.S. promoter, said: 'In terms of ability and charisma, this young man is the best since Ali. The sky is now the limit for David. He has just become a very hot commercial property with a fantastic future. We have been waiting for a luminous new talent like this to arrive in the heavyweight division. Now here he is. We have just seen the dawn of a new era in boxing.'

Haye, with his WBA belt round his waist, was in no mood to disagree. As he chilled out afterwards, Haye broke his regime to celebrate with a couple of glasses of champagne and a rum and coke, but there were no high jinks, although he was excited to receive from Sky TV a prepared jacket emblazoned with the title 'World Heavyweight Champion'.

'This was not the ultimate target,' Haye said. 'This is the start of a new life for me. I want my legacy to be unifying all the main titles in the heavyweight division by going on to beat both Klitschko brothers.' That would equal the achievement of Haye's idol, and fellow Londoner, Lennox Lewis, who retired as reigning champion five years ago.

His ambition will have to wait a few months since to get this shot at Valuev -- the 7ft 2in giant who many feared would inflict terrible harm on him -- Haye had to agree to make his first defence against mandatory challenger John Ruiz, the American-based Puerto Rican, who is the only Hispanic heavyweight to win the world title.

That fight is expected to be in London in the spring.

The man they are calling the 'British Ali' can box on much more financially secure than when he woke up on Saturday morning. Initial predictions were for subscriptions to peak at 250,000 but they rose through the half-million barrier late on Friday. If final figures approach a million, it is thought that Haye will pocket extra revenue of between [pounds sterling]2.5 and [pounds sterling]3m.

CAPTION(S):

Target: Vitali Klitschko