Tony Bellew: ‘David Haye owes me an extra grand!’

Tony Bellew

DAVID HAYE and Tony Bellew donโ€™t have a longstanding rivalry, though the hostility is mounting after todayโ€™s explosive press conference.

โ€œWeโ€™ve never been friends. Weโ€™re associates, we knew each other. Iโ€™ve got respect for him, heโ€™s a brilliant fighter, heโ€™s amazing at what he does,โ€ Bellew said.

But Bellew insists he is not overawed, pointing to a long past sparring session they once had. โ€œHe paid me a hundred quid and he got the s*** kicked out of him,โ€ Tony insisted, although Haye denies it. โ€œI got in. I hit him with a shot on the forehead, with a left hook to forehead, whacked him to body and he took a knee. He stopped sparring. He pulled out the next day, with a hamstring injury. Iโ€™m not saying I dropped him. But he took a knee.

โ€œโ€™Ooh, me hamstring or me groin.โ€™ It was something like that and then he took a knee. We were told, if we drop him or we flatten him we get a grand.โ€

But he added, โ€œDid I f*** get the grand, no. So he owes me an extra grand.โ€

There were witnesses to this session at the Salisbury amateur boxing club in Liverpool Tony maintains, saying, โ€œDavid Price was there to witness it, Adam Booth witnessed. He can say whatever he wants: โ€˜didnโ€™t happenโ€™. It did happen.โ€

Bellew will make plenty more than that outstanding grand when he boxes Haye at the O2 on March 4. Tony insists he is highly motivated regardless of the reward. โ€œMoney cannot change me because Iโ€™m crazy. Thereโ€™s something wrong with me,โ€ he said. โ€œI could I have 10 million in the bank and I would go in and fight for a pound to the finish.

โ€œIt doesnโ€™t matter how much I make, itโ€™s not about money, I have to win.โ€

The Liverpudlian also doesnโ€™t think David Haye has the same motivation. โ€œHe made that much money it made him soft and it made him walk away from boxing,โ€ Bellew suggested. โ€œI think it was 32 he was going to retire. Heโ€™s 36 and still here.

โ€œHe was getting paid buttons to fight Jean Marc Mormeck because he was driven by the glory. Same as I was at Goodison Park. Iโ€™m still driven. Iโ€™m still driven by what drove him in Paris. Iโ€™m driven in that way.โ€

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