• Heavyweight

Haye-Fury rescheduled for February 2014

David Haye and Tyson Fury have settled on a date for their rescheduled British heavyweight showdown, agreeing to face one another on February 8, 2014 at the Phones4u Arena in Manchester.

Haye was forced to postpone the original September 28 fight with just a week's notice after sustaining a cut above his left eye in the final sparring session of his pre-fight preparations.

Now, after saying "gutted isn't even the word" after the news broke on Saturday, Haye revealed that the fight would still take place five months removed from the original date.

"News of the date in February is music to my ears," Haye told his official site. "I was absolutely devastated this weekend, and felt as though I'd let a lot of people down. But now, with this new date, I couldn't be happier.

"My fans will still get the chance to see what they all wanted to see this weekend - they'll get to see Tyson Fury sparked out in a spectacular fashion."

While the boxing community raised an eyebrow to the circumstances that forced the postponement - Haye was caught by an elbow that opened an inch-long gash above his eyebrow - Haye insists he has always prepared for fights with sparring sessions within the final weeks of his preparations, as have a number of great fighters through history.

"George Foreman sparred and got cut eight days before his 'Rumble in the Jungle' with Muhammad Ali - causing a six-week postponement - and Sugar Ray Leonard sparred and got knocked down five days before his fight with Marvin Hagler, but still managed to go on and win," Haye added.

"Foreman and Leonard are two of the greatest fighters of all time, so if it was good enough for them, it's certainly good enough for little old me.

"Not only that, those guys were preparing to face the likes of Ali and Hagler, while I was preparing to fight Tyson Fury, a man whose greatest triumph to date is shedding a few stone on Belgium's Biggest Loser fat camp."

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