Running it back!
Tony Bellew has officially agreed to step foot in the ring with rival David Haye for a second time, all but confirming a rematch early via social media on Wednesday morning.
24 hours earlier, Haye put the pressure on ‘Bomber’ by revealing that he was waiting for the Liverpool fighter to sign his side of the contract and it didn’t take long for Bellew to respond.
Don't really feel like talking tbh!
I OBLIGE YOU @mrdavidhaye , happy?
Now leave me alone with my family please. I'll see you soon enough! pic.twitter.com/yw5brdFvhY— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) September 20, 2017
Bellew was victorious in the first meeting, claiming a late stoppage over the former world heavyweight and cruiserweight champion but there remained a voracious appetite for a rematch given how much Haye’s ruptured Achilles tendon affected his ability to compete for the second half of their March bout.
The continued bad blood between the veterans only served to add to fans’ interest in seeing them share the squared circle again and it seems to be a done deal now that both fighters have put pen to paper.
It’s understood that December 17 – a Sunday – is the targeted date and that it will go down in London’s O2 Arena.
It’s taken months of negotiating but teams have finally agreed ALL terms for #HayeBellew2 Will 🍕Bellew put pen to paper✍🏼?!#RevengeOrRepeat pic.twitter.com/zasUDDdAe7
— David Haye (@davidhaye) September 19, 2017
“If it does happen again then it can all end in the first ten seconds, it really can,” Bellew told BetSafe.
“If I hit him clean with a left hook he’s gone but if he hits me with a big right hand I’m gone too.
“I am not a fantasist I am a realist, and I have always said this, and this is what I told him before the first fight, what happens when I defeat you and he said, ‘that cannot happen, that cannot happen, that cannot happen.’
“And I said but you have to understand it can, because we are just two men, and either of us can render each other unconscious at any point, that’s what we can both do to people.
“If it would have happened without the injury he would have retired, there would have been no way back, because of the injury in his mind he can give himself a way back, it only happened because of this and if we ever do fight again and I defeat him again that will be the end of him, that will literally be the spade in the floor burying him, he will be finished, he will not be back. Will that give me great satisfaction, no not really.”
