Boxing: Haye loses the fight of the year

“Boxers rarely know when to stop,” said Rick Broadbent in The Times. And David Haye is no exception. By the 11th round of his fight against Tony Bellew last Saturday, the British fighter was “utterly spent”; having ruptured his Achilles tendon in the sixth round, he could hardly move. But “ailing” though he was, he refused to give up, and was only spared from further damage when his trainer threw in the towel. Haye had to undergo surgery the next day – and Bellew, too, was in bad shape, nursing a broken right hand.

There was no title up for grabs, said Kevin Mitchell in The Observer. Yet it was, nevertheless, a “strong contender for fight of the year”. In one corner was cruiserweight world champion Bellew, an old-school “family man” from Liverpool who enters the ring to the Z Cars theme tune. And in the other, weighing a stone more than his opponent, was Haye, a “playboy Londoner” who “saunters through his sport like a film star”. He was a fearsome fighter in his prime but, at 36, he was rusty; he had fought just eight rounds of competitive boxing in the previous five years. And it showed, said Oliver Brown in The Daily Telegraph. Haye was expected to subject his opponent to “a world of pain”. Yet Bellew capitalised on Haye’s injury “spectacularly”, braving all manner of “punishment”.

The fight will go down as “one of the biggest shocks in recent British boxing history”, said Oliver Holt in The Mail on Sunday. But it will also be remembered as the moment when Haye showed there was “nobility beyond his crass posturing”. In the run-up to the bout, he had made some unacceptable comments – suggesting, for instance, that he would put Bellew in hospital. But by refusing to give up, he rescued his reputation. That makes it “as good a time as ever” for Haye to bow out, said Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian. Bellew is considering retirement, and Haye should do the same. After this fight, he can “depart with honour”.