Tony Bellew and David Haye are set to clash again on May 5th in an anticipated rematch. The duo was set to face again in last December but ‘The Hayemaker’s’ surprising injury postponed the fight.
The beef between the two fighters is as real as it gets. Bellew wants to prove to the boxing world that his 11th round TKO win was not a fluke. Whereas Haye is determined to avenge his loss by being 100 per cent healthy in the rematch come May 5th.
The former WBA World heavyweight champion recently posted an informative update video on his Instagram account. Haye said he is making good progress in terms of rehabilitating his bicep but also revealed that 2018 could be his last year in professional boxing as a fighter.
Haye has confirmed before that he will hang his gloves should he lose to Bellew again but retired former World champion Carl Froch thinks Haye has a far better chance in the rematch.
“Whether David Haye is as fast as he was, or strong as he could be at the age of 37, is one thing. But I do know he believes in himself and believes it is all back,” told Froch to Sky Sports.
‘The Cobra’ believes Haye did not take Bellew seriously the first time around and compared the fight to his own clash with George Groves back in 2013 which Froch won.
“He did say all that in the first fight, but he also just dismissed Bellew. He won’t do that this time. He was wound-up but he had no respect for and totally disregarded him. It was a bit like me and George Groves. In the first one I just thought I was going to go in there hit him on the chin and iron him out. And I mean as soon as I hit him. But then, it was suddenly hard to hit him. I was trying too hard, trying to load up and all of a sudden I realised I hadn’t taken the training that serious,” explained the former World super middleweight champion.
π€The iron chin on @carl_froch says f**k me when he goes back the corner π pic.twitter.com/ACt4LKSL4f
— Anthony Fowler ππππππ (@afowler06) December 2, 2017
The big ‘what if‘ is, of course, Haye’s now famous Achilles injury that took away his movement in the first fight and helped Bellew to land big shots that eventually knocked the Londoner through the ropes.
Froch thinks the rematch will be a lot more evenly matched than people think. He labelled it a ‘genuine 50-50’ fight.
“I still believe this is a genuine 50-50, even if I didn’t last time. Haye now goes into this rematch knowing that Bellew can punch, can box and can take his shots. He took his punishment. Will anything change? Well, we will see.”
Although Haye has denied allegations of not taking the first fight seriously, Froch compares Haye to himself and ponders that maybe the former cruiserweight World champion expected less from a fighter like Bellew.
“David says he didn’t do what I did, he trained properly and was not over-confident or arrogant. Maybe like me, he just thought he would get the job done with no fuss, then move on.
“Throw in the unusual endings to both, it is so similar to what I went through. Yes, I won the first one, but people were genuinely expecting me to lose that return. Will people think the same about Bellew?”
The rematch will go down at the O2 Arena in London on May 5th.
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