The British boxer said he was really disappointed to cancel the fight, but his back injury left him no choice.

“I was a couple of weeks away from the pinnacle of what I’ve strived for since I was a young child. I couldn’t be more gutted for myself, my British fans and worldwide boxing fans. It’s really knocked me big time. People don’t realize how hard I’ve trained my whole boxing career – amateur and professional leading up to this – to know it’s not happening means I have to re-evaluate things. But first I’ve got to get myself healthy so I can train,” he said.

Haye’s manager and trainer Adam Booth stressed that he and his boxer totally understand Klitschko’s decision to fight another boxer – Uzbek WBA “champion in recess” Ruslan Chagaev – on June 20.

“If the shoe was on the other foot we would’ve done exactly the same thing,” Adam Booth.

Meanwhile, David Haye plans to visit Veltins-Arena in German city of Gelsenkirchen and see the Klitschko-Chagaev bout on his own, and says the Ukrainian champ is his favorite.

“Hopefully Wladimir looks good, he wins, and that at some point we can get this on,” David Haye said.