By Edward Chaykovsky
A few weeks ago, WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew claimed that his upcoming opponent, David Haye, was basically friendless and had nobody looking out for him.
Bellew claimed that Haye's last "real friend" was former trainer Adam Booth. Haye is presently trained by Shane McGuigan.
Bellew will move up to the heavyweight limit to face Haye on March 4th at the O2 Arena in London. The fight will headline a Sky Sports Pay-Per-View event.
According to Bellew, Booth always protected Haye and looked after him.
He feels very confident that Booth would have never allowed their upcoming fight to go forward, because of the styles involved. Bellew believes his fighting styles makes him the type of opponent that Booth always tried to prevent Haye from fighting.
"This fight wouldn't be happening if he was still with Booth," Bellew exclusively told Sky Sports. "I don't think I match up stylistically with the kind of fighters that Adam matched Haye with for his whole career.
"He always fought straight-back fighters who don't move on the inside. Fighters who can't fight on the inside, and who leave their head up in the air. I just don't fight like that. It comes across like I fight like that, if you look at my last fight! But over a period of time, I've proved I can fight in many different styles and do many different things."
While Haye is singing the praises of McGuigan, Bellew feels his domestic rival made a big mistake in replacing Booth. He says McGuigan is the wrong kind of trainer for Haye. Bellew is trained by David Coldwell, who used to a member of Haye's team several years ago.
"I've always said that David Haye is made for Adam Booth, not for Shane McGuigan. Carl Frampton is made for Shane - the two of them are a great match. Haye and Booth are a great match," Bellew said. "It shows how much he values his boxing coach, to [stay in Miami and] not be with him for basically a month. That shows how much he values Shane."
