David Haye cut an animated figure when ringside for Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury, especially in the stunning ninth round.
TNT Sport caught Haye’s reaction on video. It shows the former two-weight world champion living every second as Usyk pushed to the brink of knocking Fury out. It’s abundantly clear that Haye wanted Usyk to get the knockout. Similarly, when Haye fought Nikolai Valuev, the smaller man almost took down the giant, and Haye threw every punch alongside the Ukrainian.
Speaking about the clash after flying to Qatar, Haye revealed his frustration at the standing count given to Fury during the ninth and his doubts a rematch would ever occur.
“What a fight. Oleksandr Usyk dethroned Tyson Fury to gain every single belt there is in the heavyweight division, so that’s the clean sweep,” said Haye. “He’s done that at heavyweight, and he’s done that at cruiserweight.
“What heart, determination, and what a strategy – the gameplan,” he added. “I wasn’t expecting Usyk to be able to stick it on Tyson Fury in the way he did. He didn’t leave him alone. That’s exactly what he said before the fight, ‘I won’t leave you alone,’ and he stayed on him for every second. He was out of range and back in range; he just kept pressing. He burnt Tyson Fury out. His gas tank got lower and lower until he had nothing left.
David Haye wasn’t happy with the standing count in the ninth.
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“It’s like that ninth round really sealed the deal. The referee gave him a standing count. A lot of people say if the ropes keep your opponent up, it’s considered a knockdown. That would mean he got three knockdowns in that ninth round because the ropes kept him up about three or four times. But who cares? The right man won, but I’m not sure there’s going to be a rematch. I’ve got a feeling there won’t be a rematch for one reason or another.
“What a fight, Usyk, you legend!”
According to Frank Warren, Fury has signed his portion of the rematch deal. Dates between October and December are currently set aside for what could be the first defense of Usyk’s undisputed title.
However, Haye knows only too well that Fury can pull out of fights despite suffering a cut when his clash with “The Gypsy King” fell apart. Plenty of skeptics agree with the notion that Fury may not want a second helping of what Usyk dished out.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
