David Haye, by his own admission, has a genuine and thorough dislike for Tony Bellew, the man he will fight this Saturday night in London, and the nasty pre-fight words Haye has aimed at his rival have now got him in trouble. The British Boxing Board will “be speaking with him this week,” and Haye could face a sanction as a result of his vicious comments.
For whatever reason, or reasons, Bellew has got under Haye’s skin far more than any previous opponents of the former WBA heavyweight champ managed to do (part of Bellew’s plan all along?) and Haye has gone too far with his pre-fight promise to “hospitalise” Bellew, to end his career and to “do serious damage to his head.”
“He said he’s willing to die in the ring. If that’s the case, and he is telling the truth, I’m the last person on the planet you want to fight,” Haye said as quoted by The Telegraph. “I punch that hard. The only thing that is going to happen is is serious damage to his head. I hope if he does care for his family like he says he does, he does not invite them to the fight. It would be pretty sad for his family to witness first hand what I’m going to to do to their dad or husband. I’m looking at putting a combination together where he is unconscious but his brain hasn’t told his legs to fall down and I’m still hitting him while he’s upright.”
Nasty stuff; too nasty in the opinion of many people – including Robert Smith of the BBB of C. Speaking with The Telegraph, Smith had the following things to say:
“As a father, man and human being, I am very disappointed to see Haye’s comments about wanting to hospitalise Bellew,” Smith told Gareth A Davies. “Why has he chosen to say something like that? I’m disappointed on several levels and coming from someone who is deemed to be a role model it is clearly not right, and we will be speaking with him this week. It’s one thing to try and sell a pay-per-view event, and another thing coming out with offensive comments.”
Saturday night’s fight has sold out The O2 and a hefty Box Office audience on Sky Sports (fee £16.95) is extremely likely, so it’s clear some fans enjoy vicious talk the kind Haye has come out with. But why has Bellew so got to Haye? Has “Bomber” unnerved Haye to the point where the betting favourite will see the red mist once the bell rings and possibly deviate from his game-plan? Never before has Haye appeared so angry, or rattled – whichever it may be – when going into a fight.
But after all the sickening comments, let’s just hope nobody gets badly hurt in the fight. The sport could not stand another tragedy. And, after all he has said, how on earth would Haye react if he got beaten by Bellew!
![David Haye in hot water with British Board over vow to “do serious damage to his [Bellew's] head”](https://www.boxing247.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/haye0000.jpg "Photo: David Haye in hot water with British Board over vow to “do serious damage to his [Bellew's] head”")