Former undisputed cruiserweight world champion and WBA heavyweight titleholder David Haye believes Tyson Fury’s return to the ring was driven by the almighty dollar.
In an interview with Starsport, Haye said the 30-year-old lineal heavyweight champion had missed out on as much as 40 million pounds during his two-and-a-half-year absence from the ring to deal with drug and mental health issues.
“He’s looking healthy, he’s looking like he wants to make a comeback. He’s making all the right noises, but we’ll find out just how good he’s got,” said Haye, 37, who retired with a record of 28-4 (26).
“I’ve got a sneaky suspicion he realises that he missed out on about 30-40 million pound during his little sabbatical.
“He won’t want to be missing out on any more of those zeroes because he deserves some.”
The self-styled ‘Gypsy King’ will have his second fight back when he takes on former world title challenger Francesco Pianeta 35-4-1 (21) on the undercard of Carl Frampton versus Luke Jackson at Belfast’s Windsor Park on Saturday night.
In his first fight back in June, Fury 26-0 (19) stopped Albanian cruiserweight Sefer Seferi 23-2 (21) after four uninspiring rounds at Manchester Arena on a card headlined by the Terry Flanagan versus Maurice Hooker fight for the WBO 140-pound title.
If Fury gets past the Germany-based Italian southpaw as is widely expected on Saturday night it is believed his next bout will be against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder 40-0 (39) in Las Vegas, Nevada in either November or December. If victorious, Fury could face IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in a multimillion dollar all-British showdown at Wembley Stadium in April 2019.
“He’s big character, everyone knows his name and he’s a very good fighter. I hope he can get back to his former glory,” continued Haye.
Haye, who retired after back-to-back losses to Tony Bellew following a three-and-a-half year retirement of his own from 2012 to 2016, was twice scheduled to face Fury himself before injury issues forced the indefinite cancellation of the fight.
