March 29, 2024

Haye V Bellew
Matchroom Boxing Promotions & Hayemaker Promotions
4th March 2017
O2 Arena
London, England

TV
UK – Sky Sports PPV
US – Not Shown

‘Hayemaker’ David Haye 28 (26 KO’s)-2-0 V Tony ‘Bomber’ Bellew 28 (18 KO’s)-2-1
Heavyweight Fight

David Haye is currently 36 years old but to look at him you wouldn’t think it at all and I feel he still offers a lot to the heavyweight division as there are few fighters out there who match his power and speed. The one opponent a fighter can never beat is time but it is hard to say when we will see the Hayemaker start to slow down, Tony Bellew is predicating it in this highly anticipated fight.

The Haymaker has only ever tasted defeat twice, once at Cruiserweight when he faced a tough and experienced Carl Thompson and the second time was that disappointing night in Germany against Wladimir Klitschko where the hopes of the UK were dashed when the Ukrainian won a unanimous decision. In 2013 Haye was meant to fight Tyson Fury but instead opted for recuperation and to have shoulder surgery that he needed which in turn led to him announcing his retirement, some people felt he would always come back as it felt like he had unfinished business with the Heavyweight Division.

Haye did come back out of retirement in 2016 and with his new trainer Shane McGuigan and he faced lesser known opponents Mark De Mori (30-1-2) and Arnold Gjergjai (29-0-0) but although these fighters records looked impressive on paper they were always a level or two beneath the class of Haye and basically tune up fights for the potential big fights that await him. If Haye dispatches Bellew in a clinical fashion there is the possibility of these bigger fights against the names at the top of the divison, winner of Joseph Parker/Hughie Fury, Luis Ortiz, Deontay Wilder, or Anthony Joshua.

Regardless of Hayes age I personally think he is still one of the best Heavyweights in the division and I have always found his fights to be entertaining and just as lively as his press conferences. He has always talked a good game and most of the time he backs it up so this year could be a big year for him in defining his legacy.

Tony Bellew is flying high at the minute, after accomplishing one of his dreams by winning a Cruiserweight world title against Ilunga Makabu at his beloved Everton FC ground Goodison Park, and successfully winning his first defence in emphatic style.

I am sure his confidence has never been higher which makes this match up a bit strange as this fight was only made after comments Bellews made directly to Haye who was ringside after his defense win over BJ Flores. Bellew was getting interviewed in the ring by a Sky reporter but he took the opportunity to verbally attack David Haye while he was co-commenting on the fight for Sky TV. The trash talking from both fighters escalated to the point where it was a no brainer for Eddie Hearn as the fight had already sold itself. There is a deep dislike between the fighters which appears to go back years and this was highlighted in the first press conference (Please see Below). This has all the makings of an explosive fight.

The Bomber like David Haye has only ever been defeated twice, once in 2011 to Nathan Cleverly which he avenged and in 2013 to Adonis Stevenson but since that loss he is currently unbeaten in eight fights and he appears to be a changed fighter for the better. Bellew has never fought at heavyweight before so it is hard to say what might happen when he makes the step up, but he does not feel he is fighting a Heavyweight but a inflated Crusierweight.

His knowledge of boxing is second to none and if he thinks he knows a weakness in Haye I would believe him, but it will just be a case of can he implement the plan he wants to do and what are his plan B, C etc plus the biggest question on the night will be can he take Hayes power and if he can then how will Haye fair in the later rounds.

I am sure he will be well prepared by his trainer Dave Coldwell but there are a lot of questions to be answered on the night and personally I feel Bellew is the underdog in this fight but he has always been the underdog and it has never deterred him or stopped him from showing he can be one of the best fighters around and in Boxing anything can happen.

Ohara Davies ‘Two Tanks’ 14 (11 KO’s)-0-0 V Derry Mathews ‘Dirty’ 38 (20 KO’s)-11-2
WBC Silver Super Lightweight Championship

It is quite fitting that this fight is on the same card as Haye/Bellew as this also came about from some verbal sparring but opposed to face to face this was carried out over twitter with shots being fired back and forth until Eddie Hearn decided to grant Davies his request and set up the fight.

Ohara Davies is an up and coming British prospect but he needs to put on a good show in this fight as although he won the WBC Silver belt in his last fight against Andrea Scarpa, he did win ugly and the feeling is he will have to perform better if he is to get the so called bigger fights but a win is still a win all the same and he is currently unbeaten and moving on. He is expected to win and win comfortably in this fight so really all the pressure will be on him but he appears to have the shoulders to carry that burden and he isn’t short of confidence in his own ability but it is always hard to see where the line between Confidence and Cocky meet.

In the build up to this fight he has been throwing shots at all different fighters, ex fighters, and trainers, from that there is talk of a potential match up against the Scottish fighter Josh Taylor who is part of the McGuigans Gym stable, if he comes through this fight against Matthews.

Derry Mathews has been fighting professionally for fourteen years and he was unbeaten for the first five years of his career, but as the years have went on he has had a up and down career beating the likes of Anthony Crolla but losing to fighters he maybe should have beat on paper. He is currently coming off the back of two losses one to Luke Campbell and one to Terry Flanagan and this could be the last chance Mathews gets a shot at a belt, all be it a WBC Silver belt but it is still a stepping stone to big paydays and fights.

Derry has a lot of fights under his belt and mileage on the clock for today’s fighters, he was once regarded as a big puncher but it appears maybe he is feeling older than his real age of 33 and he could be on the wind down from this type of career. He did officially retire for 8 months but the hunger got the better of him and he returned to the ring and more recently he moved to the other side of the camera doing pundit work for Frank Warrens Boxnation so maybe he is looking for his last hooray.

The Liverpudlian knows that he might have to take this fight into the trenches and somewhere Davies might not have been or experienced before, he has the ring craft which he has learnt from all the years fighting and he knows all the pressure is on Davies so he really has nothing to lose in this fight, an upset win here can lead to a bigger fight and payday and it would be a nice way to keep his career alive.

Other fighters appearing on the card are as follows:
Sam Eggington ‘The Savage’ 19 (11 KO’s)-3-0 V Paulie Malignaggi 36 (7 KO’s)-7-0
WBC International Welterweight Championship

Lee Selby ‘Lighting’ 23 (8 KO’s)-1-0 V Andoni Gago ‘El Macho’ 16 (5 KO’s)-2-2
Featherweight Fight

Katie Taylor 2 (1 KO)-0-0 V Monica Gentili 6 (1 KO)-6-0
Lightweight Fight

Ted Cheeseman 7 (6 KO’s)-0-0 V Jack Sellars 5 (1 KO)-0-1
Super Welterweight Fight

Craig Glover 2 (1 KO)-0-0 V Jake Bonnalie 0-0-0
Cruiserweight Fight.

Dave Allen ‘White Rhino’ 10 (7 KO’s)-2-1 V David Howe 12 (6 KO’s)-4-0
Heavyweight Fight



Ticket Info
Matchroom Promotions
https://www.stubhub.co.uk/matchroom-boxing-tickets-matchroom-boxing–david-haye-london-the-o2-arena-4-3-2017/event/9739549/?mbox=1&rS=0&abbyo=false&sliderpos=false&qtyq=false&qtyddab=false&dUpg=false&sort=price+asc