David Haye has a black belt in psychological warfare.
Like all great pay-per-view draws, Haye knows how to sell fights with trash talk but he also has a handy knack for camping out in his opponents’ heads, putting their backs against the ropes before the opening bell.
And ‘The Hayemaker’ has revealed that that’s just what he was doing in sending a “red herring” out to Tony Bellew’s camp this week.
Ahead of his London grudge match with Bellew, Haye was pictured travelling to Germany to meet with his doctor and reports circulated that the former world heavyweight and cruiserweight champion had suffered a late injury and was set to withdraw from Saturday night’s bout at the eleventh hour.
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Haye posted a photo to social media of a meeting with Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, the surgeon who repaired Haye’s shoulder in 2013, but he’s insisted that the bout is in no jeopardy whatsoever.
“I popped over to Germany to see my doctor, something I should have done years ago, just for check-ups,” Haye told Sky Sports on Wednesday.
“He’s given me the thumbs up, he said I’m better than I’ve ever been. He said I’m ready to go. The shoulder is better now than before I had the injury.
“I’ve sent a few red herrings through different people and it’s definitely got back to Dave Coldwell and Tony Bellew.
“When we did the face-to-face, they said: ‘We know about your shoulder!’ He got the memo I sent.
“I feel like the old me. I’ve had fights where I haven’t been myself, but I stand here super-healthy and super-fast and fit.
“A lot of the unknowns surrounding me are flashing up in people’s minds – I haven’t been in the ring in a competitive fight in five years, and that rings bells. In the time I’ve been out, he’s had 12 or 13 fights.
“But this is the unveiling of the Hayemaker 2.0. My first two comeback fights were getting into the groove, now I feel ready to make an assault on the heavyweight division.”
