On November 24, 2015, former heavyweight champion David Haye finally announced his return to the ring after a 3 year absence. A January 16 showdown with Australia's Mark De Mouri is first on his agenda, but talk of a world title shot have already been hot on the lips of Haye. That same talk will no doubt continue to arise following Tyson Fury's superb victory over the weekend to end the long reign of former unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Despite a personal rivalry between the two Brits, Haye has insisted that it is the titles that he is interested in, whether they are with Tyson Fury or not.
"I am not after him. I am after what he has, the belts. It says a lot about a new champion that he's saying he won't fight the man who would generate the most amount of interest and money, and would be the biggest possible fight on the planet for him," Haye would tell BBC.
Regardless of your opinion on Haye's career, his infamous toe injury, or his ability to come back after a lengthty layoff, the one thing you cannot deny is that he is up there with the best at generating interest in a fight. It's a skill that will no doubt be put to the test with the promotion of his next fight against little known Mark De Mouri. While Haye was full of praise and support for Fury on his personal twitter account during the fight, he was quick to express his feelings towards Fury's declaration that he will not give him a shot at the title, labeling him a "pretender" and a "fraud".
"I want to work my way up to mandatory position. I know one of the first statements he made was, 'I'm not fighting David Haye or Deontay Wilder.' So the two biggest punchers in the division, the two people who would be favorite to knock him out, he already says he's not fighting them straight away. It kind of shows what type of guy he is, in my opinion. I'll work my way up. If he says he'd rather give me the belt than fight me if I'm mandatory, that shows what he's like as a man and a fighter. I'll have the belts around my waist whether I have to fight him or someone else. I'll be unified champion at some point," Haye told Sky Sports News. "I know he doesn't want to fight me. The only reason he wanted to back in 2013 was that he was going to get £5m out of the situation. Money talks nine times out of 10. I'm fine with it. I don't need Tyson Fury. I can make money without him - he needs big names now. Although he's champion, we'll see how much money he generates."
Providing Haye is victorious on January 16, 2016, there are a lot of potential big fights with or without the world titles. British boxing fans in particular will be hopeful that Haye can impressively dispose of Mark De Mouri to set up some of these potential British heavyweight fights.