IN AN ultra-modern gym at the rear of a scrap metal yard between olive groves and Kyrenia’s rugged mountain range in northern Cyprus, a British heavyweight has been hard at work. David Haye, 28 years old, 6ft 3in and 16st 2lb, is preparing to meet the world’s foremost heavyweight, Wladimir Klitschko from Ukraine, who holds the World Boxing Organisation and International Boxing Federation titles. At 6ft 6in and 17st 3lb, Klitschko is a colossus, but he is vulnerable, having been stopped three times in an era that some boxing historians regard as the worst ever for heavyweights.

His brother Vitali returned to the ring last month after a four-year layoff and dominated Samuel Peter in eight rounds before the Nigerian quit on his stool, securing the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight belt for the family.

Having relinquished the world cruiserweight title, Haye will launch his assault on the big men against New York’s Monte Barrett next Saturday at the O Arena. He has been stopped once, by Carl Thompson in 2004, and wobbled at other times, but he has a chance.

From Phaintin’ Phil Scott - whose series of groin-clutching collapses in the 1920s earned him an unflattering sobriquet and a series of wins by disqualification but failed to elicit a title shot - to Don Cockell, Brian London, Henry Cooper, Joe Bugner and Richard Dunn, Britain has produced a succession of heavyweight losers. Tommy Farr was another, but he displayed heroic resistance for 15 rounds against Joe Louis, whereas Frank Bruno only briefly reigned as WBC titleholder before Mike Tyson slaughtered him for the second time. Bob Fitzsimmons and Lennox Lewis, Britain’s world heavyweight champions at the end of the 19th century and 20th century, stand out as beacons on a bleak landscape.

Barrett, 37 years old and also 6ft 3in, has been stopped by Wladimir Klitschko and Nikolai Valuev, the Russian Giant, in a 12-year career in which he has never delivered, epitomising the malaise in heavyweight boxing in America in recent years. He has won 30 and lost six fights, stopping 20 opponents. Most alarmingly, he was stopped in the second round by Cliff Couser, a journeyman from Las Vegas, in July last year. Although he avenged this loss, his confidence as he headed for London on Thursday was probably thin, but he talked up a storm nonetheless.

“I’m a better boxer and I’m faster and more experienced than David Haye, who is naive, and this is his biggest weakness,” said Barrett. “Haye is wet behind the ears and he just doesn’t know what he’s letting himself in for. There is no tomorrow for me. I’m desperate to come back to New York with a win so I can go on to challenge for a heavyweight title again. Haye is a model, he’s a trash-talker and he’s an actor. I see he’s also got a lot of very pretty women on his MySpace page, so I guess he will have other things to turn to after I beat him.”

Haye is adamant that his Spartan training regime has prepared him for Barrett and for the challenges at heavyweight. “People know what they’re getting with Barrett – he’s been fighting world-class heavyweights and hanging with them for years,” Haye said. “When I beat Monte better than anybody before, people will start to realise I’m serious about being world heavyweight champion.”