By Elliot Foster

Tony Bellew has said he may call it quits after his defeat of David Haye.

The 34-year-old WBC cruiserweight champion beat the former world heavyweight champion at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday.

Bellew, who earnt a career-high purse after the Sky Sports Box Office showdown, is likely to have plenty of lucrative options on the table after upsetting Haye, but he insists it will take something special to tempt him back into the ring.

“I can't continue to put my body through this,” he told Alan Brazil and Ray Parlour on the Sports Breakfast show on Monday. “I can't continue to put my family through it.

"I'm not a greedy man. I am content with the life I have got, the life I have created.

"I have been wise with the money I have earned from boxing.

"It is going to take something very big and spectacular to draw me back out. Boxing is a brutal, hard combat sport and I will retire from boxing, boxing will not retire me.”

Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) suffered a broken right hand in the fight and said that he would follow head coach Dave Coldwell in being happy if he were to hang up his gloves now.

"I got up this morning and I felt like I was 85 years old,” he continued. “I'm in so much pain. My right hand is smashed to bits –– it looks like a purple pillow. My face has got cuts on it, and my nose is banged up.

"I don't know how many more times I can do it. It is going to have to take something big and special to draw me back out."

Last Saturday night's fight was the first time Bellew had competed professionally as a heavyweight.

Haye, the big favourite given his previous success in the division, was hindered by an Achilles injury for much of the bout and was barely able to stand, at times dragging his right leg in a bid to close the gap on Bellew to get his shots off.

But Bellew insists he simply 'broke' his 36-year-old opponent, both physically and mentally.

"It went exactly the way I thought," he claimed.

"I had to go through hell in those first three rounds, He hits very, very hard.

"He caught me clean on multiple occasions and what broke him the most is the fact I could take what he had and once the fourth and fifth rounds come you physically see me put it on him and he capitulates. He falls apart physically and mentally and the injury comes.

"It was all down to me the injury because I put the pressure on him.”

You can listen to Tony Bellew’s talkSPORT interview now at tlks.pt/l3K85E.