Joshua open to Haye challenge
... but only if the former champ can beat Bellew KEVIN QUIGLEY
Anthony Joshua has opened the door to a world heavyweight championship super-fight with David haye if the hayemaker wins tonight’s rematch against tony Bellew.
the holder of all but one of the heavyweight belts is discussing a $50million offer to fight WBC champion Deontay Wilder but would be willing to meet haye if that deal continues to stall.
haye has called out Joshua, who told his sponsors JD Sports: ‘he can get that work with me as well. If he or Wilder are serious they can have the fight, no problem.’
Joshua vs haye would fill Wembley Stadium to its 90,000 capacity this summer, and Joshua will be at ringside at London’s 02 to see if haye can gain revenge for last year’s defeat to Bellew.
Bellew, meanwhile, has announced himself the victor 24 hours before he and haye climb into the ring for their rematch.
not by way of a bombastic prediction, the Liverpool Bomber wants to make clear.
Rather by virtue of having rammed the taunts endured by his son down the throat of haye in their first fight 14 months ago.
‘I’m the winner even if this gobs **** beats me this Saturday night,’ said Bellew. ‘By shutting him up once I’ve silenced all the kids who were trolling my lad.
‘It wasn’t nice for him to keep being told that his dad was going to get knocked out.
‘For me, it’s always family first. I took care of our business in the first fight. now it’s a no-lose situation for me.
‘If he somehow does get his hand raised this time, he still can’t get over how someone so great and so beautiful got beat by this little fat Scouser.’
Bellew’s family will not be at ringside tonight and are preparing for a holiday on which he will join them as soon as he and haye have settled their grudge.
And never mind that 35-year-old Bellew, having been a massive underdog last year, was the early betting favourite before the markets fluctuated.
those early odds appeared predicated on the risk of haye’s body breaking down again.
In the midst of a series of injuries which enforced several postponements, the hayemaker ruptured his Achilles tendon midway through their first fight. he spent the best part of six rounds lurching around the ring in a gruesome, though heroic, impersonation of the hunchback of notre Dame before his corner decided to throw in the towel in the 11th.
now the great imponderable is the ring-worthiness of 37-year-old haye’s back, shoulder, hand, bicep and heel.
At the weigh-in, haye came in four-and-a-half pounds below the first time, at 15 st 10lb 2 oz. that gives him a ten-pound advantage.
But it was his physique rather than the poundage which told the real tale of the scales.
At the heaviest of his career the first time, haye had put on weight in the hope of enhancing his natural size advantage over Bellew, a born cruiserweight.
now his declaration that he is ‘ready for war’ appears justified by what Bellew openly describes as ‘all those muscles and rippling abdominals’.
thankfully, there was no repeat of the previous day’s pushing and throat-grabbing by Bellew, who also looked better for trimming off some three pounds.
the pair limited themselves to a few jibes during the stare-down.
haye jabbered: ‘you’re in with the real hayemaker now.’
Bellew babbled: ‘Can someone tell me who my opponent was first time? With those pectorals and that smart hair cut, it certainly looked like him.’
the real question is how haye’s older limbs hold up in real combat. Sparring, no matter how sharp, is not the same as a fight.
By his own admission, haye’s wounds have been the product of ‘my explosive style’.
the concussive power of that hayemaker of a right hand is generated by applying the fullest and the most ferocious combined force of fist, arm, shoulder, hips, legs and heel which is possible. that violent rotation of all those levers imposes extreme strain.
And so to the predictions from both fighters. haye declared: ‘My speed and power takes you out after the sixth.’ Bellew replied: ‘I’m bringing down the curtain on your career.’
neither can afford to lose. haye less so as he retains ambition of going on to regain his world title.
Perhaps most tellingly of all, he says that even when he was a lame sitting duck 14 months ago ‘not one of his (Bellew’s) free shots hurt me.’
Bellew himself admits that haye is the superior boxer.
But he added: ‘the best doesn’t always win in this game.’
true, Bomber. But unless the hayemaker sustains another catastrophic injury he should prevail this time, by a second-half stoppage.
TV: LIVE on Sky Sports Box Office.