Haye expected to out of action 6-9 months

By Boxing News - 03/08/2017 - Comments

Image: Haye expected to out of action 6-9 months

By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye (28-3, 26 KOs) will be sidelined for a while after rupturing his right Achilles tendon in his 11th round TKO loss to Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England. Haye’s right ankle injury was repaired following a 2 ½ hour surgery.

Coming back from the Achilles injury is going to take a considerable amount of time. Haye is expected to be out of action 6 to 9 months. We’re talking pretty much the remainder of 2017 or close to that. It’s going to require a lot of rehabilitation for Haye to come back fully from the injury. If Haye’s Achilles isn’t 100% when he does return, he’s not going to be effective.
Haye wants a rematch with Bellew, but it’s unclear whether he’ll get one. Haye, 36, is even talking about having a trilogy type situation with Bellew because he feels he’ll beat him in the rematch. Once Haye beats Bellew, he says he’ll give him a third fight.

Haye wants the rematch, but it doesn’t sound like Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn is keen on giving him one. Hearn says he wants to match Bellew against Deontay Wilder or Joseph Parker. You can bet that Anthony Joshua is also an option that Hearn is exploring. Haye would get in the way of those title ambitions that Hearn has for Bellew. He can probably get Bellew a title shot straightaway.

Hearn is obviously not going to risk all that by putting Bellew in with Haye again. That’s not to say that Hearn won’t put Bellew in with Haye in a rematch. Once Bellew challenges for a world title and likely loses, then he’ll likely need the Haye rematch a lot more than he does now. Bellew is sitting on the doorstep to a big payday against Joshua, Wilder or Parker.

There’s no chance that Hearn is going to risk that by putting Bellew back in with Haye. Bellew might not be so lucky the second time as far as Haye suffering a bad injury. If an injury doesn’t occur next time, then Bellew might end up losing to Haye. A loss to Haye would spoil his chances for a big payday.

Haye told Sky Sports News HQ that he’ll he rehabbing his surgically repaired ankle “six-to-nine months. He said if he was to win he’d give me a rematch. I thought it was laughable, but he found a way to win and hopefully he’s a man of his word. I’ll do the same. If the rematch happens and I beat him, I’ll give him a third fight.”

When Haye does return to the ring, he might need to take one or two tune-up fights before he takes on a top fighter. A rematch with Bellew might be a possibility for Haye in 2018. By that time, Bellew will have challenged for a world title.

The way I see it, Bellew beat Haye the only way he could by winning due to him suffering a really bad injury. Without the torn Achilles injury that Haye suffered, I think Bellew would have lost a lopsided decision. All you need to do is look at how helpless Bellew was in the first 5 rounds to know how the remainder of the fight would have gone. Bellew was too timid, too weak and too conservative with his offense to beat Haye without him having an injury. Even Haye with just one good leg working for him, he was still fighting to a near standstill.

I expect Bellew to get a nice cash out fight against the likes of Joshua, Parker or Wilder. After he loses that fight, Bellew will either retire or opt for a rematch with Haye. I can’t see Bellew retiring without getting a second payday fighting Haye. Too many boxing fans want to see a second fight between them, because they obviously want to know if Bellew can beat an uninjured Haye. I don’t think he can.