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As sporting stars go, there are times when David Haye makes El Hadji Diouf look like a model in respect and humility. It's only a few months ago that the Londoner was wearing that tasteless tee-shirt showing Vitali Klitschko's head removed. Now he's winding up with another load of trash talk before his attempt to win a world crown.

After acting so tough, Haye called off the fight with Vitali's brother Wladimir, which was meant to have led to a match with the reigning WBC heavyweight champion. He cited a back injury - and then suddenly backtracked on those plans and arranged to meet Russian Nikolai Valuev for the WBA version of the title instead.

Rehearsing for a future career in the diplomatic service, Haye met up with the 7ft 2ins Russian for the pre-fight press conference in Nuremberg yesterday and called him: "The ugliest thing I have ever seen", before adding: "I have watched Lord of the Rings and films with strange looking people, but for a human being to look like he does is pretty shocking."

Now I'm not one to be able to judge these things myself, but a quick reference this morning with Mrs Ellis, and then with my son's girlfriend to make sure the younger generation were consulted, didn't give Haye too many appearance marks either. But what the picture of the pair together did tell me was that Valuev is nearly a foot taller than the Londoner and looks a pretty lean 23 stone. In short, not the sort of bloke you want to upset in too much of a hurry!

Yet Haye is a remarkable [1.5] to win their fight when it takes place in Germany on November 7. That's also reflected in a spread of [1.2] to [1.79] for him to win a world title of any sort before the end of the year. Both bets look far better value to lay than to back.

For a start Haye has the problem of finding the right sparring partner to rehearse dealing with the huge difference in height and reach. He's raised the prospect of working with Britain's rising star Tyson Fury believing the 21-year-old former ABA champion, who stands 6ft 8ins tall, could also benefit from them getting in the practice ring together. That shows just how much, for all his trash talking, the Londoner is aware of the threat his opponent will pose.

And then you must remember that the Haymaker's impressive career has been as a cruiserweight, and he has yet to prove beyond doubt he can mix it with the big boys. Just one heavyweight bout so far, when he met Monte Barrett at the O2 Arena nearly a year ago, is no sort of pedigree to judge his potential against a man who has twice held the WBA title. And it hardly lives up to his boast that he would "dominate the heavyweight division until I retire on my 31st birthday".

In fairness Valuev's own title winning record is full of disputed majority verdicts and arguments about fights that didn't happen, but he's still shown he can both dish out and take a decent punch. Most recently his points win over Evander Holyfield last December proved he can go the distance with anybody. It also proved he seems to be capable of consistently getting the benefit of close verdicts whenever he fights in either Germany or Switzerland!

Haye might think Valuev is the ugliest man he has ever looked at. He might yet discover that he's pretty ugly to fight as well.

Five things you might not know about Nikolai Valuev:

1. Born in Leningrad in 1973, his height meant he was not surprisingly a top junior basketball player in his teens. He also won local medals at water polo.

2. He says he eats three kilos of meat every day to maintain his size and strength.

3. He might be a giant beast of a man, but he has a soft side. Wife Galya fell in love when he bombarded her with poems he'd written himself. They have a son and daughter.

4. Outside the ring he has a budding acting career. He played the main role - as a boxer who'd lost his memory - in the film 'Stonehead' that won a movie festival prize and has two more film roles lined up.

5. He's involved in a lawsuit against a businessman who allegedly stole his name for a website, valuev.ru