What David Haye will do next

FORMER boxing champion David Haye will spend the next year learning poker with the aim of winning the worldโ€™s largest tournament outside of Las Vegas once his apprenticeship is complete.

Haye admits he does not know any rules but is being guided by three of the UKโ€™s top professional players in Jeff Kimber, Katie Swift and Joe Beevers and is to work with actors, mathematicians and psychologists to โ€œforge his own styleโ€.

The 37-year-old former world heavyweight and unified cruiserweight champion retired from boxing in June after losing to Tony Bellew for the second time a month earlier.


Outlining his plans for the next 12 months at a press conference at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, Haye insists he is determined not to be โ€œembarrassedโ€ at the 2019 Goliath event.

โ€œI come from the boxing realm and will be going into the poker realm,โ€ Haye said.

โ€œItโ€™s about accepting the fact that Iโ€™ll be pretty poor, that every single person Iโ€™m playing with is better than I am.

โ€œIn sport if youโ€™re sometimes bigger and stronger than other people, thatโ€™s enough to get you by. But I canโ€™t use my physicality to fast track me.

david haye at the weigh-in ahead of his fight against tony bellew
David Haye at the weigh-in ahead of his fight against Tony Bellew (Ian Walton/PA)

โ€œItโ€™s not about how quick I am or my reflexes. Itโ€™s about learning the bread and butter of poker correctly from the very beginning.

โ€œMy biggest challenge is facing that, opening my arms and saying โ€˜help me, give me as much knowledge as you canโ€™. I canโ€™t rush.

โ€œRight now I donโ€™t know the rules of poker and that means I can learn the foundations from the best and move forward quickly. Iโ€™m such a novice so I have to focus on the fundamentals.

โ€œI donโ€™t want to embarrass myself in a yearโ€™s time. Thatโ€™s not why Iโ€™m here. I want to sit down with confidence and will enter the tournament to win.

haye holds aloft the wba championship belt after beating nikolai valuev
Haye holds aloft the WBA championship belt after beating Nikolai Valuev in 2009 (Nick Potts/PA)

โ€œEveryone is thinking I donโ€™t have a chance. OK, keep thinking that, but Iโ€™ve always found a way to overcome stuff. I will use every fibre of my being to give credibility to what Iโ€™m doing.โ€

โ€˜Kalukiโ€™ is the only card game Haye has previously played but he is willing to give โ€œas much as it takesโ€ to make his poker career a success and suspects his playing approach will mimic his boxing style.

โ€œIโ€™m an aggressive counter-punching boxer, so not all out aggressive. Iโ€™m strategic, I wait for my spots. Nothing happens for a while and then bang, I throw a shot,โ€ he said.

โ€œI think Iโ€™ll be pretty guarded but when I see an opportunity or an opening, Iโ€™m going at it. Iโ€™m going to knock you out, take your hand.

โ€œI thrive under pressure, I rise to pressure. Going into something cold has got the juices flowing. Iโ€™m champing at the bit for this new challenge.โ€

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