FORMER cruiserweight world champion and surprisingly successful heavyweight Tony Bellew will box again before the year is out. A rematch with David Haye remains a possibility.
“We’re looking at December 9 or 16,” his promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing News. “Still three or four guys in the mix. Had some good chats with David Haye in Las Vegas and that was dead really before then. Still I wouldn’t say it’s likely. Hopeful is a better word.”
Negotiations between both sides continue to be fraught. “We garner the reaction from fans across social media and everyone seems to want to see that fight again. So I told them, ‘This seems to be the fight with the wide appeal, the most money, the most buys. You two should do it, both of you.’ But again it’s ‘I won the first fight, I’m the A-side,’ ‘you got lucky, I done my leg, you’re not really the A-side.’ ‘Well, I am,’” Hearn said.
“And the problem was in the first fight Bellew had to give up to a lot of things that he didn’t want to give up to. And I actually talked him into that. He didn’t want to take it on the deal that was offered but he did and now he wants to make sure he gets what he wants in the rematch.”
Hearn detailed other possible opponents: “Andre Ward, obviously you’ve Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury. A couple of other heavyweights. Mainly really Parker, Ward and Haye.”
He added, “The problem is Andre Ward was drastically overpaid in all his previous fights through RocNation so the minimums that have been set are so unrealistic I don’t see how, unless they’re subsidised, I don’t see how the numbers can make sense. But I would love to see Ward-Bellew, I really would. It doesn’t appeal to the casual fans like Bellew-Haye but it is a really good fight.”
