Hearn: David Haye is NOT injured

By Boxing News - 11/13/2017 - Comments

Image: Hearn: David Haye is NOT injured

By Juan Flores: David Haye (28-3, 26 KOs) is not injured according to promoter Eddie Hearn, who wanted to address the rumors that have been circulating around since last week. Hearn says Sky Sports has already talked to the 36-year-old Haye, and he’s injury free at the moment.

It’s important that Haye stay healthy, as he has a big money rematch against Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KO) that will be taking place in a little over a month on December 17 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Haye has a history of suffering injuries during his training camps over the years, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he comes up lame with some kind of problem sooner or later.

In the lead up to Haye-Bellew last March, there were rumors circulating in the weeks before the fight that Haye had suffered had suffered an injury to his Achilles. During their March 4 fight, Haye blew out his Achilles in the 6th

“I said to Tony Bellew – they’ve probably leaked that, because that’s the sort of thing they do,” Hearn told iIFL TV. “When that [story of Haye being injured] broke I had spoken to a member of his team about the under-card about an hour before. I know he was training yesterday morning, training fine,” said Hearn.

Well, just because Haye isn’t injured right now doesn’t mean he won’t get hurt before the end of his training camp. Of course, with all the money that’s on the line for the Bellew rematch, it’s difficult to imagine Haye pulling out of the December 17th rematch. What that means is it’s possible that Haye could go into the fight with an injury problem, and not fight at 100 percent. Hopefully that’s not going to be the case, but it’s possible. When you have a fighter as old as Haye with a history of injuries, it’s possible he could get injured. It would be in Haye’s best interest not to discuss his injuries with the boxing fans after the December 17th fight, because this might dirty the water if they feel that he fought at less than 100 percent for the fight. The boxing public doesn’t want to hear excuses from Haye if he loses a second time. If Haye gets beaten by Bellew, it would be good for him to show class by giving him credit for the win.

”I was a bit taken aback by it. So I spoke to the team and they said absolutely no problem,” said Hearn about Haye. Then Sky spoke to David Haye – and said, ‘oh, we’ve seen this and he said’ – absolutely not true. I’m 100-percent ready to go on December 17. It’s on.”

Haye is saying that he’ll retire if he loses to Bellew in the rematch, because it would mean that he’ll never win another world title. Haye’s ultimate goal is to fight IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and beat him. If Haye can’t even beat a small heavyweight like Bellew, then there’s little chance he would be able to beat Joshua. If Haye looks bad in beating Bellew, he’ll have to make a decision about whether it’s wise for him to continue on. Haye has got to be able to beat Bellew with ease for him to be taken seriously as an opponent for Joshua. Heavyweights like Deontay Wilder and Joshua would likely destroy Bellew if the two of them fought. Haye has got to show that he’s in the same class as them by getting rid of Bellew as fast as possible on December 17, and not let him spoil like he did last time with his running.

It would be in Haye’s best interest to move on after the Bellew fight, and start taking on some serious heavyweights in the division. Bellew is not a major heavyweight talent. He’s basically just a fighter that took advantage of Haye’s injury last time to beat a guy fighting at roughly 25% capacity.