David Haye injured, withdraws from Bellew rematch

By Boxing News - 11/20/2017 - Comments

Image: David Haye injured, withdraws from Bellew rematch

By Scott Gilfoid: With less than one month to go before his December 17th rematch with Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs), David Haye (28-3, 26 KOs) has reportedly pulled out of the fight due to an injury, according to Dan Rafael. The Bellew-Haye 2 rematch isn’t being cancelled. It’s being postponed.

There’s expected to be a full announcement on Monday about the 37-year-old Haye pulling out of the fight.

In his previous fight with Bellew on March 4, Haye suffered a torn Achilles tendon in round 6. This eventually led to Bellew stopping Haye in the 11th round.

Due to the financial success of their earlier fight last March, Haye and Bellew arranged a rematch for December 17. Recently, there have been rumors of Haye being injured, and likely pull out of the fight. Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn quickly let the boxing media know that this wasn’t true. However, with new reports of Haye pulling out of the fight due to an arm injury, there’s not much Hearn will be able o say. He can’t deny that.

Bellew says he’ll fight WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker if Haye can’t face him. Here’s what Bellew recently said to the Metro:

”If he wants to pull out of the fight, I’ll face Joseph Parker, no problem,” said Bellew.

It sounds like a pipe dream on Bellew’s part in talking about him getting a title shot against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs). Parker and his promoter David Higgins want the big money unification fight against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. They’re not going to go for small game by fighting a runner like Bellew. That would be a waste of time. If Parker is going to fight anyone, it’ll be Joshua. If Parker doesn’t take that fight, he’ll likely look to face Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne. That would be a big fight in New Zealand.

With the Bellew-Haye 2 fight being postponed, it’s highly unlikely that Bellew would be given the chance to fight for a world title against Parker. Haye would likely be vocal about not wanting Bellew to take that fight, as if he gets blasted out by Parker, it would hurt the rematch. Boxing fans aren’t going to want to see Haye-Bellew 2 if Bellew gets knocked out cold by Parker.

Even if Bellew doesn’t get knocked out by Parker, he can stink up the joint by running around the ring for 12 rounds like he was mostly doing against Haye before he suffered his Achilles injury. Bellew’s value could drop off dramatically if he puts in a mediocre performance against Parker.

Bellew hasn’t done anything to deserve a world title shot at heavyweight. He beat an injured Haye. Before Haye was hurt, Bellew was losing the fight. Haye was dominating with his jab alone.

The 34-year-old Bellew was declared the WBC Emeritus champion in March of this year after he chose to fight Haye rather than defend his WBC cruiserweight title against Mairis Briedis. Some boxing fans feel that Bellew dodged the Briedis fight due to the high risk involved for him. Briedis is currently competing in the World Boxing Super Series tournament, and he’ll be facing the talented WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk next.