David Haye's immediate future in the ring is already mapped out with a mandatory defence against American John Ruiz, the World Boxing Association's No 1 challenger, most likely in London, in May 2010.

By Gareth A Davies, Boxing Correspondent, in Nuremburg

Haye, nursing a bandaged, suspected broken right hand, and surrounded by his team and supporters on Sunday in Nuremberg, indicated he would like to defend the title on home ground: "I'd love to have a homecoming. I'd love to go back, if the John Ruiz fight goes ahead, and have it in the O2 Arena, to show British fans a great night.

"He's a good fighter, underrated – and about the same size as me. I would maybe like to fight in Millwall, anywhere where the fans can come down to. The more the merrier."

Haye could not stop himself from an early dig at Ruiz, labelling the two-times former WBA heavyweight champion "John 'the cure for insomnia' Ruiz", on account of the American's hit-and-hold style.

Ruiz had agreed with the promoters for defending champion Nicolai Valuev and challenger Haye to step aside as the WBA's official challenger. He is believed to have received $200,000 (£120,000) to forego his mandatory challenge against Valuev.

Ruiz, with 44 wins, 8 defeats and one draw, was guaranteed a title bout against Valuev or Haye if he defeated Adnan Serin, of Germany, on the undercard. Ruiz outclassed Serin from the opening bell until Serin's corner threw in the towel after 1min 34sec of the seventh round.

Haye's masterclass in defensive fighting against Valuev earned him a 114-114, 116-112, 116-112 majority decision on the judges' cards, and gave him a place in history, as no other fighter in a heavyweight title contest has given away as much as 98lbs, which Haye did, and taken the prize. Haye, Britain's fifth world heavyweight champion this century, now has 23 wins from 24 contests.

Haye will undergo tests on his right hand this week. "I damaged my hand in the second round or third round, so I couldn't throw too many right hands. I tried to win it extensively with my left hand. My hand's very tender, very sore. I'm pretty sure it's broken but it's a small price to pay for being the heavyweight champion of the world.

"His head is solid, the hardest thing I've ever hit. It was like hitting a solid brick wall."

The Haye-Valuev fight drew a market share of 40.5 per cent on German free-to-air television ARD, the figure peaking at 8.4 million, and early indications are that the 'David v Goliath' contest captured the imagination of the British public, and may have sold up to 800,000 pay-per-view buys on Sky Box Office. That puts interest in the fight at the same level as Ricky Hatton's biggest fights.

Haye, 29, insisted his plan was still "to get out at 31". He added: "I've got brilliant options. You've obviously got the Klitschkos, who say they aren't interested, but of course they are because there is no one else for them to fight.

"They want me as much as I want them and after this fight, that will definitely be the case. The plan is to fight the Klitschkos and a couple of title defences. I want to get out quickly. I'll have been boxing for 20 years by the time I get to 31. It happens to be a couple of years away now and I always try and stick to what I've said."

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which co-promotes Haye, said: "David is the heavyweight we have been waiting for. He has started a new era. He is the No1 not just in ability in the ring but with his charisma out of it." It will fall to Schaefer to negotiate with the Klitschkos for high-profile contests in the United States.

Before slaying Goliath, Haye was 28-1 with the bookmakers to defeat Valuev and become BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

"My popularity has gone through the roof, to the point where it's quite strange," admitted Haye.

"Boxers don't really get that. You've got Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, then Lennox Lewis, they're probably the highest profile boxers we've had for a long time.

"They can walk down the street and have people shaking their hands, but they don't get mobbed like David Beckham. Beckham couldn't walk down Oxford Street. It wouldn't happen. There'd be a roadblock. That's what I actually like about boxing. No matter how well you do, you can still have a normal life."

That is likely to change now for Haye. "Winning the title means everything to me. From when I was a little baby I said I'd be the heavyweight champion of the world and my dream is now reality. I fought the biggest heavyweight champion in history and defeated him."

Source: The Guardian
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Just to add to the viewing figures.

"The clash drew a sensational peak market share of 40,5 percent (8,4 million viewers) on German free-to-air giant ARD."

So pretty good figures with it looking like 800,000 PPV buys in the UK.

One thing has became very clear from this fight. Everyone loves David D Haye.

Who wouldn't?

Anyone elses' collegues/mums only refer to Valuev as "Goliath"? ...getting a bit on the nerves now lol.

Its like Haye achievement somehow mirrors when lloyd beat the cobra with his bare hands

These morons need to read up on fights like Calzaghe vs Lacy, Benn vs McClellan, Buchanan vs Laguna, Strcaey vs Napoles, Hatton vs Tszyu, Honeyghan vs Curry, Turpin vs Ray Robinson

No they don't - taking an interest in something does not require you to learn the entire back history first.

If only the BBC forked out and got Haye v Vitali/Wlad. Id see that doing similar figures as ARD if not more with decent promotion.

People were interested in the freak factor for this one, but when its for the unified heavyweight title that sells itself.

Do you have a source for that?

That's some gooooooood box office figures!

800k in the UK sounds obscenely high! Sure thats right?

Not concrete but from the Guardian website.

If projections are right, Haye will make £5m from this fight. The pay-per-view figures at Sky are expected to get close to a million, which is not far short of the sort of numbers Ricky Hatton used to post

800,000 may be a bit underwhelming for Sky.

Im sure theyve been getting just north of a million for Hattons last couple of fights and they are going out at 4am.

They might have seen the factors - British Heavyweight, decent start time etc. and thought that they could top a million.

The 'achievement' needs to be put in context and made a comparison of.

Comparing Haye to Hatton doing 1million + PPV is unfair. Hatton 5 + World title defenses under his belt and was fighting the best fighters in the world P4P. (I'm sure he made no where near that for the Collazo fight etc) I think if Haye blows out Ruiz and perhaps one other a fight with a Vitali Klitschko would break records.

Hatton never had chance to market a fight as "David V Goliath" or sell it as "A chance to become Britains first heavyweight champion since..." and was on at peak time...

true, but haye never had a chance to promote a fight on the back of fighting the best fighter on the planet.

also, floyd sells a good fight by being a cock. after everyone had looked at valuev and thought 'fucking hell, he's a big lad,' haye did the sale on his own. as i said on another thread, there's only so many times you can hear someone say 'he's a beast in the ring but a thoughtful soul out of it, who writes poetry to his wife and muses over his favourite book, one day in the life of ivan denisovich' without wanting to kill yourself.

Once is more than enough thanks