By Scott Gilfoid: WBA super middleweight champion George Groves says he hopes David Haye retires after his 5th round knockout loss to Tony Bellew last Saturday night in their rematch at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Groves, 30, was one of the fighters under the Hayemaker banner years ago, and he says that Haye was nice to him during his time working with him.
Groves isn’t the first one that has commented about wanting to see Haye retire. His former trainer Adam Booth wants him to retire as well, and he thinks it was mistake for Haye to have come back last year for the first fight with Bellew.
Haye has suffered some really bad injuries during the last 6 years of his career. He wasn’t supposed to be able to come back from the right shoulder injury he suffered in 2012. Somehow after 4 years out of the ring, Haye was able to comeback in 2016 and look good against bottom dweller heavyweights Mark de Mori and Arnold Gjergjai. Those guys were so poor that they didn’t give a clear picture of how much Haye had left. When Haye got in the ring with Bellew last March, the boxing public could see finally how shot Haye was. Bellew is not a great fighter. At best, he’s a fringe level cruiserweight and he’s not a true heavyweight contender, even though he’s ranked high in the World Boxing Council’s rankings. Haye made Bellew look like a world beater when he obviously isn’t. Bellew showed how over-the-hill Haye is by beating him twice. Bellew can’t be counted on to beat any of the good cruiserweights or heavyweights.
“David was kind and generous to me when I turned pro. I learnt a lot from him in the early part of my career,” Groves said on Instagram. “I won’t forget that. I hope he finds his new calling, I hope he’s happy, I hope he never decides to fight again.”
Groves doesn’t want to see the soon to be 38-year-old Haye continuing on with his career after stopped on his feet by Bellew in front of a large crowd last weekend. Haye (28-4, 6 KOs) still hasn’t said whether he’ll retire or not. He seems to believe that if he gets it right, he could still find success. Haye’s 4 defeats have come against good fighters in Carl Thompson, Wladimir Klitschko and Bellew. He might have a little bit left in him if he can get healthy in terms of his leg problem. Haye looked like his surgically repaired right Achilles wasn’t 100 percent against Bellew. Haye had injured it during his first fight with Bellew last year in March. Last Saturday, Haye appeared to reinjure his right calf after being knocked down in the 3rd. Haye was dropped twice in that round, and once in the 5th before referee Howard Foster stopped it.
Haye and Bellew both need to retire. Bellew isn’t going to beat any of the healthy cruiserweights or heavyweights in my view, and Haye is pretty much done unless he’s matched against guys that are made to order for him. If Haye just wants a big payday, then he’s going to need to put together a bunch of wins over 2nd tier fodder and hope that the sanctioning bodies push him to No.1 in their rankings. More importantly, Haye is going to need to hope his body doesn’t break down on him yet again. I don’t have any faith that Haye can be counted on for more than one fight per year due to his injury problems.