David Haye has set himself big targets all his career. His long-declared goal has been to become world heavyweight champion by beating Wladimir Klitschko, the WBO, IBF and IBO champion. But now that Wladimir’s big brother, Vitali, has returned to win the WBC title from Samuel Peter in Berlin last month, Haye says that he wants to beat both brothers.

Haye, a Londoner, starts his heavyweight campaign on Saturday against Monte Barrett, a two-times world heavyweight title challenger from New York, at the O2 Arena, southeast London, the same venue where he unified the WBC, WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles by stopping Enzo Maccarinelli in March.

Emulating Evander Holyfield, by stepping up to claim the heavyweight title, has always been his aim. “A big goal is to beat both of the Klitschkos,” Haye, 28, said. “I’ll fight either of them. Vitali has a couple of world title belts. I’ll bash up him and his brother. Wladimir looks more fluid, he’s a more natural athlete, Vitali is just a bit bigger and tougher.”

Wladimir had been due to defend his titles against Alexander Povetkin, the 2004 Olympic super-heavyweight champion from Russia, next month, but Povetkin is injured and Klitschko will now face Hasim Rahman, of the United States. Haye said that he was not tempted to fill in.

“It’s a much bigger fight than a month’s notice,” Haye said. “We would both be selling ourselves short if there wasn’t a big build-up and I was just a substitute opponent.

“I’m always a person to think ahead. But all the training has been focused on Monte Barrett. I wasn’t talking about Klitschko when I was sparring.”