Injury forces David Haye to pull out of Tony Bellew rematch

Multiple sources are reporting that David Haye has suffered an injury during training and has been forced to pull out of his scheduled Dec. 17 rematch with Tony Bellew, set at the O2 Arena in London. There had been previous rumors that Haye hadn’t fully recovered from his torn achilles which was threatening the bout but there was never any confirmation about that.

But now it appears that Haye has torn something in his biceps which will require surgery, with a source telling ESPN that the fight will be postponed until at least the new year. The Independent reports that the injury was sustained while Haye was jumping rope, which, if true, is pretty telling about the wear and tear on Haye’s body at this point. I’ve never in my life heard of a person sustaining a biceps injury while jumping rope.

Tony Bellew’s response to the news was as follows:

Haye was dogged by a bad achilles in the lead-up to his first bout with Bellew, an achilles that gave way during the fight, forcing Haye to fight in a severely compromised condition. That didn’t work out so well for Haye as Bellew jumped on him, forcing a stoppage which bitterly disappointed Haye.

With the injuries piling up on Haye, one has to wonder if this supposedly ‘postponed’ rematch isn’t just off for good. I also wonder how many would actually care if that were to turn out to be the case.