By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye has reportedly been released from a hospital in London for treatment for his injured right Achilles that he hurt last Saturday night in his 11th round TKO loss to Tony Bellew at the O2 Arena in London, England. Haye suffered a complete tear of his right Achilles tendon. The injury has been repaired after surgery. It could take Haye as long as six months to come back from his Achilles injury. In theory, Haye could be back inside the ring before the end of the year. Whether a rematch against Bellew can take place at that time is anyone’s guess.
Haye’s representative made the following statement on his treatment for his Achilles injury:
“David underwent surgery to his right Achilles this afternoon, after completely rupturing the tendon during Saturday night’s fight with Tony Bellew. David would like to thank everyone for their many messages of support, as well as the staff at the hospital.”
The injury left Haye with only one good leg, and it allowed the 34-year-old Bellew to take over the fight and go on to win.
Before Haye injured his Achilles, he appeared to be easily winning a rather one-sided fight. To be sure, Haye was missing a lot of his power shots, but he was still controlling the action with his jab. Bellew was doing largely nothing. He appeared afraid of Haye, and was only landing occasional shots.
After the fight, Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn seemed to be obvious to the fact that the outcome of the fight was the result of Haye’s injury rather than what Bellew had done. Hearn seemed more focused on the outcome – Bellew winning – than the reason for him winning.
Haye fought on one leg from round 6 until 11, when his trainer Shane McGuigan threw in the towel after Haye had been knocked through the ropes by Bellew.
Bellew broke his right hand during the fight. That’s obviously bad news for him and for Hearn, who wants to put him in a world title shot in his next fight. If Bellew is going to fight for a world title, then it’s going to take him a while to finish licking his wounds from the Haye fight. You can’t expect Bellew to return to the ring in the next two months if he suffered a broken right hand.
Haye wants a rematch. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were him waiting for that to happen. Judging by the comments from Hearn, he seems to be a lot more interested in getting Bellew a title shot. He mentioned Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker as the fighters he’d like to match Bellew against. Beating a one-legged Haye is one thing, but doing the same thing to Joshua, Wilder or Parker is way too much to hope for. Those guys likely aren’t going to suffer a freak injury like the one Haye suffered. Hearn can certainly throw money at them to entice one of them to get Bellew a title shot, but it’s going to be a likely mismatch. I don’t think it would be good for the boxing public to see Bellew thrown inside the ring with Joshua, Wilder or Parker.
“I’d love to do it again. I loved it, the fans loved it. I’ve never been in a fight like that before. He beat me now fair and square. I can’t think about world honors, I need to get past this guy,” said Haye to skysports.com. “I’m at his mercy, there is no rematch clause. That’s the best fight I have ever had. It felt like a ‘Rocky’ film. He won the fight fair and square and if he would oblige with a rematch I’d love that.”
Well, depending on how long it takes for Haye and Bellew to recover from their injuries, it might take a while before the two of them face each other in a rematch. That’s if Hearn doesn’t get Bellew a title shot against one of the champions. You’ve got to imagine that Hearn’s first priority is to try and get Bellew a crack at a world title, preferably against Joshua, who he also promotes.
If Hearn can’t get Bellew a title shot, then I see him looking towards a rematch against Haye. However, I still doubt Hearn will take that option of putting Bellew back in with Haye. The reason why I doubt that is because Bellew now has a win over a solid fighter under his belt at heavyweight, even though it’s a tainted win due to Haye being injured in the 6th.
Hearn can use the win over Haye as justification for matching Bellew against Joshua, Wilder or Parker. If Hearn puts Bellew back in with a healthy Haye after his Achilles injury is healed and 100%, then the chances are very high that he’ll lose that fight. Haye was beating Bellew with his jab alone through 5 rounds. The injury Haye sustained in round 6 changed the fight entirely. Bellew took over, and ended up winning based off the injury. If Hearn puts Bellew back in with Haye, he’s likely going to lose to him in a one-sided fight. Heck, Haye doesn’t even need to throw his power shots to best Bellew in the rematch. He just needs to throw jabs. Bellew can’t do much because Haye’s reach is better and his hand speed superior.
I do think Hearn will eventually match Bellew with Haye in a rematch, but only after he gets him a title shot against Joshua, Wilder or Parker. I see Joshua as the guy that Hearn ultimately will put Bellew in with, not Parker or Wilder. I think Hearn is just throwing their names out there without him being serious about wanting to make those fights. I see Hearn going in house completely for Bellew’s title shot by him putting him in with his own fighter Joshua.
Bellew will almost surely get a title shot against one of the world champions. It’s unlikely he’ll win a title, but he’ll probably get the title shot that he wants. Haye and Bellew can face each other at that point if there’s still fan interest.