David Haye and Tony Bellew sell tickets but promoter Hearn calls for calm

The notion that two competing athletes would jeopardise a major payday by misbehaving to the point of disqualification even before they traded skills would be absurd in any other arena but the boxing ring. Yet the prospect of such lunacy engulfing David Haye and Tony Bellew before they get paid to do it officially at the London O₂ Arena on 4 March is real enough for the promoter, Eddie Hearn, to plead with them to calm down.

Bellew, no stranger to such antics, has already said he will take a swipe at Haye if he comes within distance of the south Londoner during Monday’s pre-fight press conference in his hometown of Liverpool, then when they are in the capital for the weigh-in on Friday week.

They traded handbags at their first press conference in November and the British Boxing Board of Control was concerned enough to threaten them with suspension. While that would be a 100-1 shot, Haye is prepared for anything.

“He’s not quick enough to hit me, that’s the thing, even if he tried,” the former world heavyweight champion said on Wednesday. “He tried to do that at the first press conference and before he could get his arms out, he already got hit. He didn’t see it coming, didn’t know what happened – and that’s what’s going to happen on fight night. I’m going to make sure that he’s not in any way going to get within striking distance.”

Does he envisage a steel fence between them – as was the case before he fought Dereck Chisora at Upton Park in July 2012?

“Glass, steel – whatever it is – I don’t need him there. When tensions are high, when guys are scared they do crazy things. There needs to be some protection between us. It worked for Dereck and me, although I’m not sure that’s a great look for the sport of boxing.

“Having a bunch of security guys between us looks a bit messy. I’d love to have confidence that he’ll keep his hands to himself, but I don’t have any confidence in his mental state. I think it would be very irresponsible of both of our teams if we were in striking distance of each other. Hopefully there will be some sort of precautions put in place so that doesn’t happen.

“Verbally, he can say what he wants from across the room or a few metres away. He is in good shape now and he has trained hard, he is on edge. When he sees me, he will want to get his paws on me. I get it, I understand it. I’ve seen people like that.

“But it would be an absolute nightmare [if the fight were called off]. Imagine both of us being in great shape, both of us ready to fight then he pushes me and I react and then it is messy.

“It is easy to be brave, it is easy to make big bold statements when the fight is six weeks away, a month away. When we get into fight week, it gets really real. All the work is done in the gym and it is just tapering down. He will know this is it. There is nothing he can do to change the result of the fight, other than to relax.

“But how are you supposed to relax when you are fighting a bigger, better, stronger athlete than you, someone who has won more world titles than you? How is he supposed to sleep at night? How is he going to put his head down and think: ‘Yeah, I’ve got this’? I don’t know how he can. He is going to be losing a lot of sleep as the fight draws close.”

Haye admits Bellew has been good for moving pay-per-view sales and tickets, though.

“He’s got the fire burning. The last two guys I fought [Mark de Mori and Arnold Gjergjaj], although they had impressive records, nobody knew who they were. I didn’t really know who they were before I fought them, to be honest. Although they were big events and did great numbers, they still didn’t catch the public imagination like this fight has. So, for all the annoying comments he does make – and they just don’t make sense to me – he’s sparked a big, big movement for people to want to watch this fight.”

And that is what it is all about.