Home Boxing News David Haye hangs up the gloves after 16 year pro career

David Haye hangs up the gloves after 16 year pro career

David Haye
Photo Credit: CC BY-ND 2.0 by fitpro1

Former undisputed cruiserweight champion and heavyweight titleholder David “Hayemaker” Haye 28-4 (26) has announced his retirement from boxing effective immediately.

The sport isn’t kind to ageing boxers as Haye learnt in May when the 37-year-old was beaten down in five rounds by domestic rival Tonty Bellew 30-2-1 (20) of Liverpool.

“For my fans, it must have been like going to support their favourite thoroughbred racehorse at the Grand National, only to see their stallion stumble out the gates like a sedated mule at the Donkey Derby,” said Haye in a statement.

“I saw punches coming but wasn’t quick enough to avoid them. I created openings but lacked the speed and agility to capitalise on them.

“Quick, bread and butter counterattacks, the sort I’ve effortlessly thrown since my teenage years, are no longer in my armoury. And when I take shots, they now shake me to my boots.

“The things I used to be able to do in the ring – instinctively – now exist only in my mind and in video clips of my old fights.”

Haye had previously retired in October 2001 after losing his WBA championship to Wladimir Klitschko in Germany. He returned 12 months later to face Dereck Chisora before retiring again, this time seemingly for good. But three-and-a-half years later he returned to the ring once more, taking two low-level tune-up bouts before back-to-back heavyweight fights against former WBC cruiserweight champion Bellew.

Bellew beat him twice. In their first fight Haye suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in the sixth round, effectively hobbling him and leaving him a sitting duck for Bellew’s big bombs. The Liverpudlian won in 11 rounds.

The rematch was different. This time, Haye simply couldn’t pull the trigger. Bellew was all over him from the opening bell, sending him down twice in the third round and again in the fifth before the referee mercifully called a halt to proceedings.

“The boxing gods have spoken. They will no longer protect me with the freakish speed and power I used to possess,” said Haye. “And without these God-given gifts, I completely lose my edge.”

Haye admitted those fights late in his career were a challenge.

“Often it was a fight just getting to the ring in one piece,” he continued. “In the past five years I have snapped (fully ruptured) both biceps, my rotator cuff and my Achilles tendon.

“All four injuries were potentially career-ending and each of them required operations with months of intense rehabilitation.

“The biggest physical challenge I had to face, however, was a spinal surgery in March 2015.”

Haye’s career is littered with highlights too. In 2007-08 he defeated French tank Jean Marc Mormeck by TKO7 to claim the WBA and WBC cruiserweight titles, adding Enzo Maccarinelli’s WBO title to the collection with a two-round blowout in his very next fight.

The following year he would outpoint 7-foot Russian giant Nicolay Valuev to become the WBA heavyweight champion of the world, successfully defending the title against former two-time world champion John Ruiz and Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison.

“I’m proud of the battles I’ve been through. I’m proud, too, that I exit the battlefield happy and healthy, with my family financially secure,” he said.

“Most importantly, I can reflect on it all with crystal clarity.”