We can’t see them going for pints together any time soon but there’s definitely some respect there between David Haye and Tony Bellew.
Bellew came out on top on the two occasions that he shared the ring with Haye, stopping the Londoner each time, and the build-up to both fights made it abundantly clear that the bad blood between the pair was genuine.
His most recent defeat to ‘Bomber’ proved to be Haye’s last time in the ring as he announced on Tuesday morning that he’d decided to hang up his gloves for good.
Haye admitted that his age had caught up with his body and he couldn’t continue to put himself through arduous training camps and brutal fights.
Reacting to the news, Bellew has sent his fiercest rival a nice message, telling Sky Sports: “I wish him well and would like to thank him for the opportunity in the first fight.
“He has had a fabulous career and will go down as one of the all-time British greats.”
Haye first fought Bellew last year, when a ruptured Achilles hindered the former’s chances of success, and the hostility that continued after the initial meeting meant that the fan appetite was there to see them do it again.
‘The Hayemaker’ hastened to point out that he was fully fit for the rematch but was simply beaten by the better man last month.
“Ahead of my final two fights with Tony Bellew, we publicly showed each other little respect. But this was just two veterans giving the crowd what they wanted: a grudge match,” Haye said in his lengthy statement.
“Despite the pre-fight hype, I can assure you I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for Tony. Whenever I traded punches with him, and whenever I was in his presence, I felt the inner warrior. I saw a man who would take the battle as far as necessary to get victory; a man who, like myself, would rather die than give up or quit; a man I’d want on my side of the battlefield if going to war.
“As for what happened on May 5, 2018, I did not walk to the ring injured, nor injure myself during the fight.”
