I’LL BIN THE TRASH TALK
Haye: Last time I screamed and shouted, talked big, spoke badly about Liverpool and paid the price.. I won’t let Bellew drag me into the gutter
DAVID HAYE insists he will not let Tony Bellew drag him into the gutter again by engaging in a trash-talking war.
Haye claims he lost to Bellew in their first heavyweight clash last year because he allowed himself to be needled in the build-up.
He says he foolishly played into Bellew’s hands and has vowed not to repeat that mistake before Saturday’s rematch at London’s O2.
Haye was chilled at Monday’s public press conference at Liverpool’s Echo Arena, despite the abuse from Bellew’s fans, and vowed he won’t descend to the Liverpudlian’s level.
“The last time round I came in angry, I came in screaming and shouting, whooping and hollering, and said some horrendous things to the good people of Liverpool,” he admitted. “I paid the ultimate price because I talked big and then underperformed terribly.
“All the big talk I dished out, he made me eat my words. I don’t need a sports psychologist to tell me the way I was effing and blinding the last time I was in Liverpool was the wrong mindset to have.
“I’m not going to lower myself to that again. That’s where he is. He’s in the gutter, that’s where he performs.
“He played a masterful game. That’s not going to happen this time round. He’s going to be playing my game.”
Haye (above) watched the first fight again – which Bellew ended in the 11th round – with new trainer Ismael Salas, who recently split from three-weight world champ Jorge Linares.
Haye admits it made painful viewing.
The 37-year-old, who has boxed only three times in the last six years, could not believe how bad he was and says he fought like a novice who had no place in a boxing ring.
“It was painful,” said the two-weight world champ. “I’m watching it and I’m thinking: ‘What are you doing?’
“The punches I was throwing, I’ve never missed so many.
If I had watched someone else do that I would have said, ‘Boxing ain’t for you, mate. You haven’t got what it takes to even make it past Southern Area level’. That’s how bad it looked.
“Fortunately I have changed quite a few things, Ismael Salas being one of them, and having conditioner Ruben Tabares back on the team. He knows how to get the best out of me.
“Believe me, I will get my revenge on Saturday.”