David Haye

On 20 November, it was reported that Haye had injured his arm and forced to pull out of the fight. In a statement, Haye said, "I am devastated to announce my much-anticipated rematch against Tony Bellew has been postponed until March 24 or May 5, subject to scheduling." It was believed that the injury occurred during a stair conditioning session. Bellew was said to be disappointed with Haye's announcement, but stated he may take an interim bout. The fight was rescheduled for 5 May 2018. Haye weighed 220.2 pounds, 4 pounds lighter than the first fight. Bellew also came in lighter at 210.4 pounds.

On 12 June 2018, Haye released a statement via social media announcing his retirement. In the statement, Haye spoke about his career from start to finish, all the injuries he suffered, rehab and also revealed he had spinal surgery in March 2015.

At the first press conference on 30 November, a fight broke out as Haye and Bellew went face to face and it appeared on the replay that Haye had managed to land a left hook on Bellew, leaving a mark. Both fighters were then separated before going their own ways. On 3 March 2017, Haye weighed 224.9 pounds, heavier than Bellew who came in at 213lbs, a career high.

On 3 June 2017 Haye and McGuigan both announced that they would no longer work together. It was said that they had reached a mutual agreement and parted on good terms. Some rumours indicated that McGuigan had urged Haye to retire, which eventually caused the split. On 6 July, Haye announced that he had hired Cuban Ismael Salas as his new trainer. Salas, known for working with Jorge Linares, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Nonito Donaire, stated that he believed he could lead Haye to another world title reign.

On 12 July 2017, Haye confirmed that he had begun strengthening his ankle and he would slowly start training for his next fight which would likely take place in December 2017. On 24 July, negotiations had begun for a rematch between Haye and Bellew to take place in December 2017, although they were far from an agreement. Bellew made Haye an offer of his preferred purse, which would reportedly make the rematch worth around £20 million. On 3 August, Hearn stated a rematch between Bellew and Haye was 'virtually dead', due to both fighters believing they are the A-side and have the right to demand ring walks, poster position, changing rooms and split of purse. On 6 September, Hearn stated a deal could be made within seven days. According to Bellew's trainer, David Coldwell, both Haye and Bellew had held positive talks and looking more likely to agree to a fight, as long they stay on the same page and agree to the same terms. On 19 September, Haye agreed all the terms and tweeted Bellew to sign the contract. He said, "It's taken months of negotiating but teams have finally agreed all terms for Haye-Bellew 2. Will Bellew put pen to paper?" The fight was reported to take place on Sunday 17 December 2017. Hearn stated the fight was not a done deal, but he had hoped to confirm the fight within a week. Bellew replied the following day, tweeting, "I OBLIGE YOU @mrdavidhaye , happy? Now leave me alone with my family please. I'll see you soon enough!" The fight was officially confirmed on 29 September for the fight to take place at The O2 Arena in London. Bellew claimed the rematch wasn't personal anymore, just business and hoping to dedicate a win to his late brother-in-law, who had died in August. Haye stated that Bellew wouldn't win the lottery twice. Like the first fight, it was scheduled to be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Bellew knocked Haye down three times, eventually winning the fight via TKO in round five. Haye started the opening two rounds using his jab, leaving a mark around Bellew's right eye. As round three started, both boxers started getting closer and unloading power shots. As Haye started to step backwards around the ring, Bellew landed clean, dropping Haye. At this point it appeared Haye may have injured his ankle, with the Sky commentary team mentioning this, as well as the post-fight interviewer. Haye later denied he was injured. Bellew then dropped Haye again with a hard combination. Bellew came out cautiously in round four, still wary of Haye's power. In round five, both fighters traded punches, but it was a left hook from Bellew that dropped Haye for a third time. Haye managed to beat the count again, not long before Bellew started unloading a barrage of punches. With Haye against the ropes, referee Howard Foster stepped in at 2 minutes, 14 seconds, giving Bellew his second stoppage win over Haye. Immediately after the fight Haye congratulated Bellew on the win. Bellew went on to dedicate the win to Ashley, his brother-in-law, who died in August 2017. He also mentioned Andre Ward, who his team had brief negotiations with in 2017. Haye stated he would review the tapes and see what went wrong. According to CompuBox Stats, Haye landed 42 of 189 punches thrown (22%), only 6 being power punches and Bellew landed 70 of his 219 thrown (32%), with 34 being power punches. Both boxers earned a minimum purse of £2.5 million for the fight, which would likely increase based on TV revenue and PPV shares.

On 20 January 2017, Haye announced he would combine his Hayemaker promotions with Richard Schaefer's Ringstar Sport to create Hayemaker Ringstar, which would be based in the UK and rival Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Sport and Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions. They would also promote shows in the US. Shaefer stated in a press release that he had intended to promote in the UK for some years and spoke of his excitement to be in partnership with Haye.

At an official press conference on 12 July 2017, Hayemaker Ringstar announced they had agreed a TV rights deal with the biggest multichannel broadcaster in the UK, UKTV, for entertainment channel Dave. The deal would be for 3 years which would show five fight nights per year. Hayemaker Ringstar also introduced its latest signings, Olympics silver medalist, heavyweight Joe Joyce, Olympian Qais Ashfaq, European champion Willy Hutchinson and former 10-time world kickboxing champion Michael 'Venom' Page.

On 6 September 2017, an official announcement was made for the first boxing event which would take place at Indigo, The O2 Arena in London on 20 October 2017. Haye confirmed that Joe Joyce would headline the card, making his debut against experienced former WBO Inter-Continental champion Ian Lewison (12–3, 8 KOs).

On 26 January 2016, Haye announced his next fight, (marketed as "Haye Day 2") would take place on 21 May 2016 at The O2 in London in Haye's pursuit of reclaiming and unifying the heavyweight world titles. His opponent was the little known Swiss fighter Arnold Gjergjaj. During the press conference announcing the fight, Shannon Briggs confronted Haye calling him out. Haye did not agree to fight Briggs immediately but instead offered him the chance to fight on his undercard, promising that he would fight him next if he was victorious. Briggs agreed to this arrangement and stopped Emilio Ezequiel Zarate in the first round.

Following his win over BJ Flores in October, WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew immediately hit out a verbal assault on rival Haye, who was ringside, repeating he's next. Referring to Haye as 'Sideshow Bob', Bellew carried on the verbal assault in the post-fight interview using profanity and taunting Haye, stating he has been 'conning the British public' since he announced his comeback. Bellew's promoter, Eddie Hearn, claimed the fight could take place at heavyweight or at cruiserweight for Bellew's WBC title. On 25 November 2016, Hearn announced on Twitter that Haye and Bellew would face each other in a heavyweight bout on 4 March 2017 at The O2 Arena, London. The fight was shown on Sky Box Office and was Bellew's first heavyweight fight.

In 2015, Haye switched trainers from Adam Booth to Shane McGuigan, son of former WBA featherweight champion Barry McGuigan.

On 24 November 2015, Haye and his new promotion and management team, Salter Brothers Entertainment, announced his comeback fight against WBA #10 ranked heavyweight Mark de Mori. The fight took place on 16 January 2016 (marketed by Salter Brothers Entertainment as "Haye Day") at The O2 Arena in London, and was Haye's first fight in more than three years since stopping Chisora in 2012. Coming into the fight, Australian De Mori had lost only once in 33 career bouts and 26 of his 29 victories had come via KO, albeit against limited opposition. It was announced on 6 January 2016 that Haye and the Salter Brothers had struck a deal for the comeback fight to be shown on free-to-air entertainment channel Dave, the largest non-PSB broadcaster in the UK and the channel's first ever live sport broadcast. Haye commented on the broadcast deal, stating: "I'm looking forward to putting on a great show for the fans on 'Haye Day' at The O2 on January 16 and I'm delighted that my first fight in three-and-a-half years is going to be available free to air on Dave, giving as many people as possible the chance to watch my comeback. I was determined to make this comeback fight free to everybody and fans should sit back and get ready for another fun-fuelled ride as I look to regain the heavyweight championship of the world." In a world's first, Salter Brothers Entertainment also partnered with YouTube to live-stream the event outside of the UK to a global audience for free.

In early 2014, Haye became vegan and later launched a range of vegan protein powder. He was open about his reasons, stating, "I watched a TV documentary about how animals are farmed, killed and prepared for us to eat. I saw all those cows and pigs and realised I couldn't be a part of it anymore. It was horrible. I did some research to make sure I could still obtain enough protein to fight and, once satisfied that I could, I stopped. I'll never go back."

He was named one of PETA UK's Sexiest Vegan Celebrities of 2014.

Haye beat Valuev in a reserved display of accuracy and efficiency, countering Valuev's misses, jabbing and circling his much larger opponent. Haye came close to knocking Valuev down in the final round with a hard left hand, which made Valuev stumble. Haye won a majority decision (MD) with scores of 114–114, 116–112, and 116–112. Haye is the first and currently only boxer in the history of the sport to be seven stone or more lighter than an opponent in a world title fight and still come out victorious. The fight garnered 469,000 buys on Sky Sports Box Office, which saw Haye receive a payday of £2.1 million.

Haye was due to fight Manuel Charr at Manchester Arena on 29 June 2013. However, the fight was called off because Haye had suffered an injury. Haye later arranged a fight with Tyson Fury at the same venue on 28 September 2013. However, a week before the fight, Haye sustained a cut to the head which required several stitches, so yet again the fight was postponed. It was originally rescheduled for 8 February 2014. However Haye dropped out of the fight on 17 November 2013 after shoulder surgery. Fury, meanwhile, believed that Haye was making excuses because he didn't want the fight, with Fury himself saying "I'm absolutely furious but in all honesty this is exactly what I expected. Everyone knows I was very suspicious when he pulled out the first time and this confirms to me that he's always been afraid of me and never wanted this fight." Aside from training camp expenses, Haye also cost Fury his positions in the world rankings including an IBF final eliminator bout which would have made him mandatory for a shot at the world title. Although doctors advised Haye to retire from boxing, he never officially announced his retirement.

The bout started as a stalemate until the sixth round, when Haye injured his achilles tendon, causing him to fall twice. Bellew then took control of the fight as Haye opted to continue. Bellew knocked Haye down and out of the ropes late in the eleventh round. Haye managed to make it to his feet, but his corner threw in the towel, giving Bellew a TKO win. Bellew credited Haye for his bravery, while Haye refused to blame his injury and stated that Bellew was "by far the better fighter", though stated that he wanted a rematch. Haye was taken to the hospital following the bout but was released the next morning. It was revealed that Haye had ruptured his right achilles tendon and underwent surgery. At the time of stoppage, Bellew led on all three scorecards 96–93. With a 60–40 split of the £7 million purse, Haye earned £4.2 million while Bellew earned £2.8 million, his biggest purse by far. It was reported that the fight generated 890,000 buys on Sky Sports Box Office.

Haye put retirement on hold and was in negotiations for a possible bout with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on 3 March 2012. However, Klitschko went on to schedule a fight with Dereck Chisora on 18 February 2012, which he won by decision. Following the fight there was a fracas between Chisora and Haye, who had attended as a spectator, leading to speculation that Haye might come out of retirement to fight Chisora. However, on 21 February, Haye confirmed that he would only come out of retirement to fight Klitschko. On 8 May, Haye signed on to face Chisora on 14 July.

Haye attended the 2012 WBC heavyweight title fight in which Vitali Klitschko defeated Dereck Chisora. Following the fight, Haye began heckling the post-fight press conference, leading to a violent brawl with Chisora and his entourage. Klitschko's manager Bernd Boente said "with the bad experience we've had with British fighters we will now look for other countries". He then told Haye from the dais "You had an offer, you didn't accept it, now you are out. You are out. You cannot talk yourself back into the fight, you have no belts." Chisora then called out Haye, but Haye dismissed Chisora as "a loser".

On 8 May 2012, Haye and his promotion team announced that he would fight against Chisora at Boleyn Ground, Upton Park, London on 14 July 2012. The announcement caused controversy as neither held a British Boxing Licence, and so had agreed a licence deal with the Luxembourg Boxing Association. Seen as a direct attempt to undermine the British Boxing Board of Control, it meant that fights could take place in Britain even if a boxer was facing disciplinary action.

In November 2012, he took part in the twelfth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, in which he finished third.

Haye's plans to unify the heavyweight division took a major setback in January 2011 when it was revealed that Tomas Adamek would fight one of the Klitschko brothers in September 2011, before his planned retirement in October of that year. However, in April 2011, it was announced that Haye and Wladimir Klitschko had agreed to meet at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg on 2 July 2011.

BBC chief Charlie Smith told The Sun on 11 October 2011 that Haye had informed him that he would not be renewing his boxing licence, thus retiring from the sport. Haye has had a long-standing plan to retire early. After the Harrison fight Haye said his plans to retire before he is 31 had not altered: "I will have achieved what I wanted to achieve – undisputed cruiserweight champion, unify the heavyweight division and then call it a day." In December 2010, during the negotiations to fight Klitschko, Haye said if the fight did not happen, "I'll just have to accept that becoming the WBA champion was enough and move on with my life. That'll be 20 years of getting punched in the face, which is a long enough time. I set my goals and achieved them so unifying the titles is the cherry on the cake but if it doesn't happen it wasn't meant to be and I've just got to get on with my life".

Haye created his own documentary reality show, David Haye versus, under his production company Hayemaker Productions, which was broadcast on Sky 1 from 28 to 29 June 2011. It featured him training and in conversation with Ricky Gervais, Justin Bieber, Michael McIntyre, Dizzee Rascal and Mickey Rourke.

On 26 January 2010, former WBA champion John Ruiz was announced as Haye's first title defence on 3 April at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester, live on Sky Box Office. Ruiz, ranked as the number one contender by the WBA was initially in line to fight Valuev, however agree to step aside. Ruiz was unhappy at the fight being staged in the UK and not Las Vegas, as he thought it would be. Ruiz did not show up at the official press conference. Haye defeated Ruiz in his first WBA title defence by TKO in the ninth round after knocking Ruiz down four times during the fight. This was only the second time Ruiz had been stopped, after being knocked out in round one by David Tua 14 years prior to facing Haye. After the fight, Haye immediately called on both Klitschko brothers, after claiming their recent challengers Eddie Chambers and Chris Arreola were "a disgrace to boxing." Haye earned a £1 million purse for the bout.

It was confirmed on 7 September 2010 that Haye would fight Audley Harrison on 13 November 2010 at the Manchester Arena. The press conference for the bout became heated, leading to the two fighters swearing at each other on live television. On 13 November 2010, Haye defeated Harrison with one minute, seven seconds remaining of the third round by TKO. Southpaw Harrison landed one punch during the entire fight. He staggered to his feet after being knocked down, only for Haye to immediately pounce right back on him, hitting him with another flurry of punches. The referee intervened and ended the bout. Haye earned £4.2 million for the fight and Harrison had a purse of £1.5 million. The fight was bought by 223,000 households in the UK on Sky Box Office. An investigation took place after the fight and Harrison's purse was withheld, due to his underwhelming performance. After listening to Harrison's explanation, the British Boxing Board of Control decided to release his purse.

Haye lives in the Beckenham area of London. He and his wife, Natasha, have a son named Cassius (named after Cassius Clay). He supports Millwall FC. He held dual citizenship with Northern Cyprus in 2010, but later relinquished it. His training camp was based in Kyrenia around 2007 and 2008, and he sometimes wore the Northern Cypriot flag on his shorts alongside the English, UK, and Jamaican flags.

Haye was selected for the final 10 shortlist for the 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award for his performances against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison.

WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko confirmed he would defend his title in a fight with Haye to take place on 20 June 2009, at Stamford Bridge in London. Instead, his younger brother, WBO, IBF, and IBO champion Wladimir Klitschko agreed to fight Haye the same date in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Haye pulled out of the fight with a back injury.

Haye then confirmed that he would meet the WBA champion Nikolay Valuev (50–1, 34 KOs) on 7 November 2009 in the Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany. Haye's former trainer Adam Booth said it was a fight that Valuev wanted; it was billed as David and Goliath. Haye weighed in at 217 pounds, almost 100 pounds less than his opponent. Haye said about Valuev: "He is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. I have watched Lord of the Rings and films with strange-looking people, but for a human being to look like he does is pretty shocking."

As a professional, Haye became a unified cruiserweight world champion in 2008, winning three of the four major world titles, as well as the Ring magazine and lineal titles. In the same year he moved up to heavyweight, winning the WBA title in 2009 after defeating Nikolai Valuev, who had a size advantage of 9 inches (23 cm) in height and 99 pounds (45 kg) in weight over Haye. Along with Evander Holyfield, Haye is one of only two boxers in history to have unified the cruiserweight world titles and become a world heavyweight champion.

Haye founded his own boxing promotional firm, Hayemaker Promotions, in 2008. He is a vegan and launched his own range of vegan protein powder in 2014.

Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli (28–1, 21 KOs) met in an all-British world cruiserweight title fight, in the early hours of 9 March 2008 at O2 Arena in London. Haye's WBA, WBC, and The Ring titles were at stake, while Maccarinelli's WBO title was on the line. British trade paper Boxing News produced a pullout special on the match, which was widely billed as the biggest all-British bout since Chris Eubank met Nigel Benn. As both fighters are hard punchers with excellent KO records, a short fight was predicted. These predictions proved to be correct, as Haye knocked out Maccarinelli in the second round of the contest. Commenting on the fight and of the prospect of working again with Frank Warren, Maccarinelli's promoter, Haye said, "We thank Frank for sacrificing Maccarinelli, but we'd feel immense guilt if we took any more free money from Sports Network. I have a hard enough time sleeping at night as it is."

Haye described the victory over Maccarinelli as "the final piece" in his cruiserweight jigsaw. Haye then defeated heavyweight Monte Barrett at The O2 Arena in London on 15 November 2008, winning via TKO in the fifth round.

Haye vs. Klitschko was the first heavyweight unification fight since Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov fought back in 2008, when Klitschko beat Ibragimov and added the WBO title to his IBF title. Klitschko defeated Haye by unanimous decision (UD) to become the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and The Ring heavyweight champion. Klitschko and Haye agreed to a 50–50 split of the purse and Haye was allotted 7,000 seats at the venue. Klitschko dominated the fight, statistically outlanding Haye nearly 2 to 1. The three judges scored it 117–109, 118–108, and 116–110 all in favour of Klitschko. Haye revealed afterwards that he had a broken toe.

Haye's cameo at heavyweight in April 2007 resulted in a first-round KO win over Polish fighter Tomasz Bonin, who at the time was ranked No. 9 by the WBC and had only one loss, against Audley Harrison. Haye admitted he was taking "a crazy step up" when he fought Bonin at Wembley Arena. Haye said in a post-fight interview "If you asked me when I was three years old, I'd say I'm going to be the heavyweight champion of world. I never said cruiserweight. It's what I wanted to do since I can remember. I always wanted to be the main man in boxing. I want everyone to recognise I can beat every other boxer in the world. That's why I'm fighting the guy I'm fighting. I really want to prove to everyone I am the man."

Haye challenged Jean-Marc Mormeck (33–3, 22 KOs) on 10 November 2007 for the WBA, WBC, The Ring and lineal cruiserweight titles. Following being knocked down himself in the fourth round, Haye unleashed a combination made up of a right uppercut, left, then right hook to floor Mormeck in the seventh round to win by TKO. The victory meant Haye became Britain's sixth world champion. "I worked my way back into the fight and showed great heart, 17 weeks of hard work have paid off." The victory confirmed Haye's arrival as a genuine world class fighter. At this point Haye made his initial mark on history as Britain's first two-belt cruiserweight champion.

In January 2006, Haye signed a three-year contract with former Lennox Lewis promoter Frank Maloney to further his world title ambitions. He successfully defended his European title against Ismail Abdoul in a lopsided twelve-round decision. He defeated Giacobbe Fragomeni, when he broke through the Italian's defences in the ninth round, finally flooring his man in a flurry of punches. Haye had waited seven years for the opportunity to defeat Fragomeni, who controversially out-pointed him as an amateur in the final qualifying tournament for the Sydney Games.

Haye's fights were regularly seen on the BBC and his popularity began to grow in 2004, when he dispatched the 39-year-old former world champion "King" Arthur Williams in three rounds.

Based in Bermondsey, Haye turned professional in December 2002, aged 22. In his first fight he defeated Tony Booth via second-round corner retirement (RTD). In 2003 he won seven fights, two of which were the only fights he has fought in the United States. He won all by knockout (KO), the most notable being a fourth-round KO of Lolenga Mock, in which Haye had to come off the floor to win.

At the 2001 World Championshsips in Belfast, Haye fought in the heavyweight division where he defeated Sebastian Köber to reach the final. In this bout he managed to score a standing eight count against Odlanier Solís, but was later stopped by the Cuban in round three to earn a silver medal.

At the age of eighteen, Haye competed in the light-heavyweight division at the 1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Houston, Texas. He knocked out then-ABA light-heavyweight champion Courtney Fry, but missed out on the 2000 Sydney Olympics after a controversial defeat in the qualifier in which he was eliminated by experienced American Michael Simms early in the contest.

David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he won a silver medal in 2001.

David Deron Haye was born in the Bermondsey area of London on 13 October 1980, to a white English mother and a Jamaican father. He grew up in Bermondsey for most of his childhood, and attended Bacon's College in Rotherhithe. He grew up among the town houses of the Peabody Estate, near the Tate Modern Gallery and around the corner from the Globe Theatre. Bacon's College principal Tony Perry remembers Haye as a "very athletic, very smart young man". Haye started his ambition and passion for boxing at old-school boxing gym Fitzroy Lodge Boxing Club in Lambeth, where he quickly impressed and confidently won his first amateur bouts. Mick Carney, who ran the gym where Haye began training from 10 years old, said of him, "He could whack as a kid. I think he chinned about three kids. But that made it really hard to get him matches. When you've got three first-round knockouts on your card, everybody runs for the hills. [...] [Haye was] a lovely kid. He comes from a beautiful, loving family. He wasn't on the streets. He went to school, came to the gym, went home. His family bestowed love and affection on him. Bermondsey might have been bad, but he, his brother and his sister were nice people from a nice family."