haye won the european title on 16 december 2006 when he beat alexander gurov. he won the match after only 45 seconds. on 24 march 2007, in his first match as european champion, he beat lasse johansen. on 27 april 2007, he had his first heavyweight fight, against tomasz bonin. haye won in the first round. shortly after the fight, haye said he had plans to move up to the heavyweight division. "i'm absolutely certain i can rule the heavyweight roost", he said. on 10 november 2007, he beat jean-marc mormeck to win the wba, wbc, and "ring" magazine titles. haye was knocked down in the fourth round, but hit mormeck with a series of blows in the seventh to win by technical knockout. he became the uk's sixth boxing champion. on 8 march 2008, he beat enzo maccarinelli to win the wbo title. haye hit maccarinelli with two big punches before the referee stopped the match. haye said he planned to move up to the heavyweight division. a few weeks after the fight, wladimir klitschko, the ibf, ibo, and wbo heavyweight champion, said he wanted to fight haye.