Former world heavyweight champion David Haye on Wednesday revealed that he has bulked up in the hope that his comeback will not be bedeviled by fresh injuries.
Haye, 35, fights Australia’s Mark de Mori, 33, in London on Saturday, three-and-a-half years on from a fifth-round stoppage of British countryman Dereck Chisora on his last appearance in July 2012.
Hand, eye and shoulder problems nixed subsequent fights with Tyson Fury and Manuel Charr, but having announced his comeback in November last year, Haye is hopeful that his new approach will pay off.
Photo: Reuters
“I don’t really weigh myself. I’m just packing in the food as much as I can,” the former cruiserweight world champion told his pre-fight press conference.
“I used to, in years gone by, diet down a lot,” he said. “In my old training camps, I used to get as light as I could possibly get. The general consensus back then was, the lighter I am, the closer I am to cruiserweight, the faster I will be, and that’s all well and good, but when you’re cutting weight down so low, and sparring big guys, I get injured. A good reason not to do that is injury prevention, so instead of dieting down, I’ve been packing the food in.”
“The fact that I’ve got to this fight without injuries — it sounds crazy, but for me that’s the real, real big plus, a big bonus,” he said.
London-born Haye defeated giant Russian Nikolai Valuev to become WBA heavyweight champion in November 2009, but lost his crown to Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko in July 2011.
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