Tony Bellew vs. David Haye 2 in the works for December

By Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: A rematch between David Haye and Tony Bellew is in the works for December, but the fight is still very much up in the air. Whether Bellew and Haye face each other again will come down to the split of the green stuff.

Bellew, 34, wants a bigger slice of the revenue this time around compared to what he got the last time he fought the 36-year-old Haye (28-3, 26 KOs) on March 4 this year at the O2 Arena in London, England. Haye got the lion’s share of the cash for that fight, mostly due to his bigger name and his past accomplishments.

Haye was a former 2 division world champion, whereas Bellew was what many boxing fans saw as WBC paper champion at cruiserweight. However, Bellew got a lucky break against Haye when he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in round 6. This hobbled Haye enough for Bellew to take over the fight and eventually get an 11th round stoppage.

Haye slipped out of the ring in the 11th. While he was climbing back in, his trainer threw in the towel. Haye didn’t look hurt. He had simply slipped through the ropes when he placed his footing wrong. It’s too bad the fight was stopped at that point, as Haye was loading up on big shots and looking to take Bellew out.

Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) has other options besides a fight against Haye. He has the possibility of a fight against light heavyweight Andre “SOG” Ward and WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. However, the big money would come from a rematch against Haye rather than fights against Parker or Ward. A rematch between Haye and Bellew would have a possible pot of $26 million for the two to split up.

That’s a heck of a lot more green stuff than a fight between Bellew and Ward or Parker would likely bring in. Bellew has reportedly let Haye know how much of a split he’d be looking at to take a second fight against him. The two fighters will need to try and agree to a deal that makes sense for both fighters. Bellew will be looking or the bigger cash.

Just how much more is the big question? A split of 55-45 in favor of Bellew would sound fair. I don’t think Haye would ever agree to a 70-30 or 80-20 deal. Haye is too popular for him to agree to the small money. I would likely need to be at least 55-45. If Bellew chooses to price himself out of the fight, then he could be sorry for having done so if he gets stuck fighting Andre Ward or Joseph Parker for less money. If I were Haye, I’d give Bellew a take it or leave it 50-50 offer.

I wouldn’t give him the better deal, because he’s not the more popular fighter. Yeah, Bellew has fans in Liverpool, but Haye is more of bigger name in the rest of the UK. If Bellew didn’t wnt to take the smaller money, I’d move on ad look to fight someone else. Bellew would find out quickly that things are better for him on the other side of the rainbow.

Bellow could walk away from the Haye deal and e stuck fighting Ward or Parker for smaller money. Losing to one of those guys would hurt Bellew’s career. He would be stuck slinking back to Haye asking him if the deal that he previously offered him was still on the table, which probably wouldn’t. If Bellew comes back to the bargaining table with Haye in a position of weakness, I’d be surprised if he got even a 70-30 deal. What good is Bellew after he gets whipped by Ward or Parker? Haye would be better off putting Bellew on ignore and going after Ward or Parker himself rather than wasting his time on a guy that was just beaten.

Bellew would be taking a big risk if he fought Ward or Parker, as both of those guys would have advantages against him. Ward has the far better boxing skills compared to Bellew. And with Parker, he’s just a lot bigger and stronger than Bellew. Parker also can box and move. Moreover, Parker is young, and unlikely to suffer a debilitating leg injury like the one Haye suffered. Parker has a title defense against young Hughie Fury in September. So even if Bellew did want to fight Parker, he’d be sitting around on his backside for a long, long time waiting for that fight to take place. It would be far better for Bellew to get back in the ring to fight Haye if the fight can get made.

Bellew and Haye want to get back inside the ring before the end of the year in December. If a fight can be made between them, then that will likely be the month that they face each other again. If not, then it’s going to be interesting to see who they fight. I wouldn’t expect Haye to fight anyone too good from the heavyweight division, given the surgery he’s coming off on his ruptured Achilles.

It wouldn’t be smart for Haye to take on a good heavyweight in his first fight back. But if we’re talking about Bellew as Haye’s opponent, then that’s something different. Bellew can’t punch at the heavyweight level. We saw that last March.

Bellew used a finesse approach to the fight by running from Haye each time he came forward looking to land. Haye couldn’t land his big right hands due to Bellew dashing away each time he would even look at him wrong. The fight was so, so boring before Haye suffered the Achilles injury. Once Haye was hobbled and lipping around, it was then that Bellew got brave and started throwing punches. Haye couldn’t get any weight on his shot with the injury taking his legs out from under him.

Bellew would be way out of his league if he fought Joseph Parker. Bellew is too weak and his style of fighting at the heavyweight level is too timid for him to have a chance to beat a guy like Parker. Bellew’s best chance of beating Parker is to try and get the fight to be staged in the UK, and then hope to make the full 12 rounds.

If Bellew could go the distance with Parker, then he might get lucky and win a controversial decision or get a questionable draw like in his first fight against Isaac Chilemba. I saw that fight and I had Chilemba winning easily by 8 rounds to 4 score. I gave Bellew a couple of mercy rounds otherwise it would have been one-sided.