David Haye may have gone six years without a world title to his name, but the London heavyweight can still hold his own when it comes to trash-talking.
The Hayemaker loves to provoke his opponents and his career has been littered with run-ins. Wladimir Klitschko, Nicolai Valuev and Dereck Chisora are among the many who have been on the receiving end.
Insults have once again been flying back and forth as he prepares to fight Tony Bellew in Saturday's non-title heavyweight bout at the O2 Arena in London. Haye, in typically tasteless style has repeatedly referred to Bellew as 'Bell---' and says his British rival "will be leaving the ring on a stretcher".
The former WBA world heavyweight champion's claim that he will "hospitalise" his rival has landed him in trouble with the British Boxing Board of Control, which wants to talk to Haye after this weekend's fight.
But the impending hearing did little to convince Haye, 36, to tone down his remarks at a news conference in Liverpool Monday night; he called Bellew's local fans "f***ing r-----s" and, among other spiteful comments, said: "He's risking his life. This isn't about his career -- his life is on the line."
It could get worse, too, with more media events and the weigh-in still to come.
Haye can amuse, entertain and offend in equal measure with his foul-mouthed trash-talking. Among his many rounds of verbal sparring, his goading of Klitschko and Nicolai Valuev stand out, although the Bellew baiting is in the same league.
For Klitschko, the Briton's pre-fight jibes in 2011 were "disgraceful and disrespectful".
The Ukrainian was angry at Haye for wearing a T-Shirt to a news conference that depicted the Londoner holding aloft the decapitated heads of both Wladimir and his brother Vitali.
Haye had promised a "brutal execution" amid months of verbal abuse, which included likening Wladimir to Sacha Baron Cohen's mankini-wearing character Borat. Haye also repeatedly referred to Klitschko as "a boring robot" and "a fraud", but it was the Ukrainian who had the last laugh, winning comfortably on points.
Yet Klitschko got off lightly when you consider Haye's cruel treatment of WBA heavyweight champion Valuev before they met in 2009. Haye ridiculed the 7-foot-2 Russian as "a circus show freak" and "the ugliest man I've ever seen".
He said: "Valuev looks like the bogeyman. Kids try to remove his mask when he goes trick-or-treating on Halloween.
"He makes the Elephant Man look like Pamela Anderson."
Haye out-pointed Valuev in Germany to become a two-weight world champion but he was far from done with controversy. At a news conference to promote his 2010 fight with fellow Briton Audley Harrison, he told his former friend he was "going to get violated" as he compared their upcoming bout to "gang rape".
Harrison crumbled in three rounds.
Earlier in his career, Haye was just as dismissive of opponents: he said he just needed to be sober to beat Enzo Maccarinelli in 2008, and branded rival Londoner Dereck Chisora an "idiot" before their controversial clash in 2012, promising "a nice, slow, concussive beating".
But it's not just his fights that have prompted Haye's outspoken antics; he has also tried to trash talk his way into the headlines of others' fights, with Anthony Joshua and Klitschko targets of at least one poor-taste tweet before their IBF-WBA world heavyweight titles clash on April 29.
Whether his skills in the ring are as lively as his comments out of it should be tested by Bellew on Saturday; it will be interesting to see.