Tony Bellew scores rematch win over David Haye
Tony Bellew has his sights set on a hefty retirement payday after finally exorcising the ghost of David Haye in five rounds last night at London’s O2 Arena. Questions hovered around the main event as to whether Haye’s fragile frame would hold up long enough for him to land the telling blows and knock out the notably smaller man.
But Bomber Bellew outboxed, outfoxed and outgunned Haye, knocking the Bermondsey puncher down three times before referee Howard Foster terminated the bout. Cagily refusing to be drawn on whether he was injured or not, Haye hobbled through the post-fight interviews in a manner similar to how he had meandered around the ring itself just seconds earlier. This will surely be the last time he is seen in a contest of any significance and more thna likely he will hang up the gloves. Bellew called out Tyson Fury and Andre Ward after the bout.
Speaking on Andre Ward, Liverpool’s Bellew said: “”I have all the respect in the world for him but he has never faced a fighter who can match him up close, fighting on the inside. He is Bernard Hopkins, just 20 years younger, but there are ways to beat him. I’ll beat him but he’d go down as a far greater fighter than me.”
Haye said: “He was the better boxer tonight, a great champion.”
On the undercard, Paul Butler was dropped twice and comprehensively defeated over the 12-round distance by Emmanuel Rodriguez in their vacant IBF bantamweight title fight.
John Ryder smashed Jamie Cox in two rounds at super-middleweight. Belfast’s James Tennyson shocked Commonwealth and European super-featherweight champion Martin J. Ward with a fifth-round KO. Heavyweight Joe Joyce took ownership of Lenroy Thomas’s Commonwealth strap with a second-round knockout.
