TALKS have begun in earnest to stage a rematch between bitter rivals Tony Bellew and David Haye after the Liverpudlian upset the odds back in March by stopping Haye.
Bellew, who moved up from cruiserweight to fight Haye, stopped the former two-weight king in the 11th round after David ruptured his Achilles tendon in the sixth.
Haye is back on the mend and insists he will fight before the end of the year. Bellew now has many lucrative options ahead of him, including a return with the ‘Hayemaker’.
“Weโre talking about them all, to be honest. Eddieโs just going through them to see which oneโs the best and which one will work. Yeah, weโre talking to Haye so weโll see what happens,” Bellew’s trainer, Dave Coldwell, told Boxing News.
“From his [Haye’s] point of view especially, after all the biggun he gave it, he canโt move forward without coming back against Tony. But itโs gotta be fair. For all his talk in the ring immediately after the fight, it seems to be completely different now. Weโll see what can develop and how things move but Tonyโs got options and heโs exploring them to be honest.”
WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker is another option for Bellew after their respective teams met recently. However the New Zealand native must first get past unbeaten mandatory challenger Hughie Fury on September 23 – no foregone conclusion by any stretch.
For now, Bellew is keeping himself in shape ready for a return to action, which looks set to be in either November or December.
Coldwell said: “Tonyโs back in training, as in ticking over, heโs been doing his strength and conditioning work for quite a while now, doing a couple of boxing sessions a week for now.”