Hearn: Haye-Bellew Does Monster Business on Pay-Per-View

By Edward Chaykovsky

Eddie Hearn, promoter of WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, is hoping to finalize a fight with former two division beltholder David Haye for the first quarter of 2017.

This past Saturday night, Haye was sitting ringside at the Echo Arena in Liverpool and watched his close friend BJ Flores get knocked out in three rounds by Bellew (28-2-1, 18KOs) - who was making the first defense of the title he captured back in May in Goodison Park with a brutal third round knockout of Ilunga Makabu. Flores was knocked down four times before the contest was waved off.

After the contest was over, he called for a fight with Haye (28-2, 26KOs). Bellew made attempts to physically confront Haye and he was restrained by his camp members and security.

Haye, a former cruiserweight and world heavyweight champion, believes a fight with Bellew would be a complete mismatch. Bellew is confident he would knock Haye out and dominate him as he claims to have done in their sparring session several years ago.

"He believes he's invincible, but I definitely think it's a step too far to go up to heavyweight and fight me. I was No.1 at cruiserweight when I unified the division, something no British fighter had done. Then I went up to heavyweight and won the WBA title. I'm not going to go back down to a less-glamorous division than the one I'm in now for a loud mouthed guy like him," Haye said.

While most view Haye as the much quicker fighter, Hearn believes their speed is very similar.

"He's just looking at Haye, not the heavyweight division as a whole. He can put some muscle on. People laugh when I say he's got a similar hand speed to Haye but Haye's up at heavyweight - he looks a lot faster. Tony fancies the fight. We'll try and make it," Hearn said.

"It would do monster business on pay-per-view. At heavyweight there would probably be a stone difference in favor of Haye but at heavyweight what is that?”