“I love the fact that he’s 10 years younger than me and three stone heavier than me, three inches taller.”
David Haye may be recovering from a serious injury and a shock defeat to Tony Bellew, but he has his eye on the best heavyweight around. Haye wants to fight Anthony Joshua next year, and reckons it would be the “biggest ever” fight to take place in the United Kingdom.
The former WBA heavyweight champion last fought in March, when he was stopped in the 11th round by Bellew, who was fighting at heavyweight for the first time in his career. Haye bravely fought on after suffering a debilitating Achilles injury in the sixth round. The 37-year-old underwent surgery, hired a new trainer and is now plotting a showpiece bout against Joshua.
Haye is making huge strides on his road to recovery https://t.co/t8n3mOLJGC
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 16, 2017
Haye says he has four fights left in him, and isn’t fazed by being the underdog in any potential bout with Joshua.
“At the moment, I’m not on his radar because I lost my last fight,” Haye said.
“He’s worried about his mandatory challenger, not me, understandably. He knows he is my target – he’s everybody’s target because he is considered number one. I love that challenge, I love the fact that he’s 10 years younger than me and three stone heavier than me, three inches taller. That for me is a challenge and a challenge that 90 per cent of the population don’t think I’ve got a chance with. Next year, if I can win a couple of fights and he keeps his titles, we can both take on each other in the biggest fight ever on UK soil.”
He'll be back in the ring before 2017 is out https://t.co/tPxThP2fH1
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) September 7, 2017
Joshua next fight will be with Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev, the IBF mandatory challenger, on October 28 in Cardiff. Haye says he is planning to return to the ring before the end of the year, but there has been little progress on organising a rematch with Bellew.
“There are a few names bouncing around but I’ll probably know in the next couple of weeks. (A rematch with Bellew) might happen but only if we can get on the same page. We have always been on different pages. I won’t be holding my breath for that one. If it’s supposed to happen it will happen but at the moment I wouldn’t put money on it.”
