By last year’s standards, the build-up to Tony Bellew vs. David Haye has been rather cordial this time around.
There’s been no death threats, no British Boxing Board of Control investigation and no verbalised wishes to cave anybody’s skull in.
The difference between Haye’s conduct in Liverpool on Monday and his behaviour on Merseyside last March couldn’t have been starker.
“The last time round I came in angry, I came in screaming and shouting, whooping and hollering, and said some horrendous things to the good people of Liverpool,” Haye said earlier this week. “I paid the ultimate price because I talked big and then under-performed terribly.
“All the big talk I dished out, he made me eat my words. I don’t need a sports psychologist to tell me the way I was effing and blinding the last time I was in Liverpool was the wrong mindset to have.
“I’m not going to lower myself to that again.”
While the trash talk may have been shelved for the rematch, it’s clear that Haye and Bellew will never be close friends and the bad blood resurfaced on Thursday, when the final press conference took place.
After addressing the media, the heavyweights squared off with one another and security had to intervene.
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Repeat or Revenge?#BellewHaye2 pic.twitter.com/tfKcHbUads
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) May 3, 2018
Haye spun his baseball cap backwards so that he could get up close and personal with his rival and Bellew didn’t appreciate it as he gave ‘The Hayemaker’ an almighty shove.
One would expect that security will need to be on their toes again on Friday, when the pair weigh in and face off for the final time before fight night.
