British heavyweight boxing has received a much-needed shot in the arm in 2017.
With Anthony Joshua’s pair of blockbuster stadium-fillers, Daniel Dubois’ breakout and March’s grudge match between Tony Bellew and David Haye providing plenty in the way of entertainment value; the big boys of Britain have outdone themselves this year.
However, there was much concern over the weekend when a rumour began doing the rounds that the rematch between Bellew and Haye had been plunged into jeopardy due to an injury to ‘The Hayemaker’.
According to ThaBoxingVoice podcast, Haye suffered an injury in training camp and was unsure whether or not he would make it to fight night on December 17.
Haye memorably ruptured his Achilles tendon in his first meeting with Bellew, fighting on one leg from the midway point of the fight before falling victim to an 11th round stoppage.
It was not specified what kind of injury Haye picked up and most fight fans believed that there was no truth to it due to the fact that it hadn’t been confirmed by any other mainstream outlet.
And Bellew’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, reckons that it was Haye’s own camp who leaked the news in the hope of unsettling Bellew.
“I said to Tony Bellew – it’s probably they’ve leaked that, because that’s the sort of thing they do,” Hearn told IFL TV. “When that broke I had spoken to a member of his team about the undercard about an hour before.
“I know he was training yesterday morning with a corporate day for Park Plaza, training fine. So I was a bit taken aback by it. So I spoke to the team and they said absolutely no problem.”
Hearn went on to insist that Sky Sports had reached out to Haye personally and that the 37-year-old had rubbished the rumour.
“Then Sky then spoke to David Haye and said – oh we’ve seen this and he said – absolutely not true. I’m 100 per cent ready to go December 17th. It’s on.”
Don’t panic, everybody. The fight remains on.
