Eddie Hearn Blasts David Haye Over Behind The Scenes Play

By Carlos Boogs

Things got very tense on Wednesday, during the London press conference to officially announce the fight between British rivals David Haye and Tony Bellew - which is scheduled for March 4th at the O2 Arena.

There was a near brawl when the two fighters went head-to-head. After trading words, Haye threw a punch at Bellew and all hell broke loose before security got involved.

During the actual press conference, Haye appeared to be very angry and threw a lot of vicious insults in the direction of Bellew's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport.

Haye has experienced numerous occasions when his opponents have tried to insult him, but after listening to Bellew he chose to go after Hearn.

"It's all about the Eddie Hearn show," said Haye. "I tried to watch a Katie Taylor interview. She starts talking and you barge her out of the way, 'Apples and pears'. He's already hijacked the press conference. If Naseem Hamed or Chris Eubank were coming through now, it wouldn't happen because Eddie would jump in front of them and make the show about him. After I've taken out this guy, I'm going to take out (Anthony) Joshua and end your business."

Hearn spoke with BoxingScene.com and explained that Haye was very angry because he wanted control of the entire event.

According to Hearn, Haye made several attempts to go around him in order to make a deal directly with Bellew.

"The one thing with David, is that David is a real control freak. Leading up to this fight, before the deal was done, he was trying to call Tony Bellew and getting people to call him. He had people call him saying - 'don't worry about Eddie Hearn, we can do this deal on our own.' And that's because he's a control freak. The reason my name is on the poster is because I'm a licensed promoter so it has to be," Hearn told BoxingScene.com.

"But he hates the fact that I'm giving him the payday that he so desperately needs. He called himself out. He crossed all of these different channels and he's come back to where the money was. And he hates the fact that he has to work with me to get it. He likes to own everything.... Hayemaker Promotions, like it used to be back in the day. He was choosing everything and now you can't get that from us. He has a real fight on his hands and he shouldn't worry about me, he should worry about Tony Bellew."

"He said Shannon Briggs didn't want to fight him, that Lucas Browne didn't want to fight him - rubbish. The fact is, Tony Bellew was the biggest payday for him. And that's why he's taking this fight, he's getting the payday that he needs. Don't be fooled with his 'I want to win a world title.' He doesn't, he wants the money. David Haye has always been about the money. Money first, achievements second. No problem with that. That's why he's here. This [fight] is not moving him in a position for a world title, this is to get the biggest payday that is out there for him other than Anthony Joshua."