Hearn to announce new date for Bellew vs. Haye 2 tomorrow

By Boxing News - 12/04/2017 - Comments

Image: Hearn to announce new date for Bellew vs. Haye 2 tomorrow

By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn will FINALLY announce the new date for the Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) vs. David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) heavyweight rematch on Tuesday, December 5. Haye and Bellew have a lot to gain from their rematch.

The winner will move on to bigger and better things. The loser will probably have little choice but to retire. If Bellew loses, Hearn will likely be crying crocodile tears, because he won’t be able to match him against Tyson Fury later in 2018. That would be a big money tune-up fight for Fury. Bellew would have little chance of winning against the 6’9” behemoth Fury, but the fight would make him a bundle. That’s good retirement for Bellew to feather his nest in his golden years.

Bellew-Haye 2 was supposed to take place on December 17, but Haye suffered a biceps injury recently while training and he can’t fight on that date.

Hopefully, Haye and Bellew can get the rematch over with so that the winner can move on to bigger and better fights. Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants to match him against Tyson Fury in 2018 in what could be the final fight of The Bomber’s career. Hearn says Bellew is down to the last 2 big fights of his career, and that’s Haye and possibly Fury. Of course, Haye could spoil Hearn’s plans by beating the brakes off of Bellew in their rematch in early 2018.

If Haye can make through training camp and the entire fight without suffering an injury, he’ll have an excellent chance of beating Bellew. Haye needs to not only beat Bellew in the rematch, but defeat him in an impressive fashion so he can improve his chances of getting a title shot against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in 2019. That fight would mean a lot to British boxing if it takes place. Haye wouldn’t be able to just sit and wait for the Joshua fight. If he beats Bellew in May or whenever the rematch takes place, Haye will need to keep active to increase his chances of a fight with Joshua.

Hearn isn’t just going to give Haye the fight with Joshua on a silver platter. Hearn doesn’t mind matching Joshua against no hopers like Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale and Carlos Takam, but Haye is a little too dangerous for him to be just given a title shot. Hearn is going to make Haye earn the fight against Joshua, and even then, it’s debatable whether it’ll happen.

It’s possible that Bellew vs. Haye 2 will be taking place on May 5 on Sky Box Office pay-per-view. It’s a business type of fight rather than sporting. Haye hasn’t been in the mix at heavyweight for many years. He’s had well documented injury problems have kept on the sidelines for much of the last 5 years. Haye suffered a bad shoulder injury in 2012, and he couldn’t come back for until January 2016.

Haye beat fringe contenders Mark de Mori and Arnold Gjergjaj in 2016. Haye looked good in those fights, but then he didn’t fight again for another 10 months after that in losing to Bellew on March 4 of this year by an 11th round knockout. Haye injured his Achilles tendon in round 6, and Bellew took advantage of it to get a stoppage in the 11th.