69 Facts About David Haye

David Haye held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he won a silver medal in 2001.

David Haye was ranked by BoxRec as the world's No 1 cruiserweight from 2005 to 2007, and was ranked within ten best in 2003 and 2004.

David Haye became a vegan in 2014 and launched his own range of vegan protein powder later that year.

David Deron Haye was born in the Bermondsey area of London on 13 October 1980, to a white English mother and a black Jamaican father.

David Haye grew up in Bermondsey for most of his childhood, and attended Bacon's College in Rotherhithe.

At the age of eighteen, David Haye competed in the light-heavyweight division at the 1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Houston, Texas.

David Haye knocked out then-ABA light-heavyweight champion Courtney Fry, but missed out on the 2000 Sydney Olympics after a controversial defeat in the qualifier in which he was eliminated by experienced American Michael Simms early in the contest.

At the 2001 World Championshsips in Belfast, David Haye fought in the heavyweight division where he defeated Sebastian Kober to reach the final.

David Haye won all by knockout, the most notable being a fourth-round KO of Lolenga Mock, in which Haye had to come off the floor to win.

David Haye's fights were regularly seen on the BBC and his popularity began to grow in 2004, when he dispatched the 39-year-old former world champion "King" Arthur Williams in three rounds.

David Haye started fast and alarmingly caught Thompson with constant barrages of power punches, coming close to forcing a stoppage at numerous points over the first few rounds.

Gradually, despite the early punishment he received, Thompson warmed up and worked his way into the fight whilst David Haye seemed to tire and slow down.

Thompson began to pressure David Haye and knocked David Haye down with a chopping right hand in round five.

David Haye returned against Estonian Valery Semishkur, winning by technical knockout in round one, then defeated Garry Delaney by a third-round TKO.

David Haye easily knocked out Gurov with a single right hand in just 45 seconds.

In January 2006, David Haye signed a three-year contract with former Lennox Lewis promoter Frank Maloney to further his world title ambitions.

David Haye successfully defended his European title against Ismail Abdoul in a lopsided twelve-round decision.

David Haye defeated Giacobbe Fragomeni, when he broke through the Italian's defences in the ninth round, finally flooring his man in a flurry of punches.

David Haye had waited seven years for the opportunity to defeat Fragomeni, who controversially out-pointed him as an amateur in the final qualifying tournament for the Sydney Games.

David Haye admitted he was taking "a crazy step up" when he fought Bonin at Wembley Arena.

David Haye challenged Jean-Marc Mormeck on 10 November 2007 for the WBA, WBC, The Ring and lineal cruiserweight titles.

At this point David Haye made his initial mark on history as Britain's first two-belt cruiserweight champion.

The Mormeck fight was expected to be David Haye's last fight in the cruiserweight division.

However David Haye would be tempted into a unification cruiserweight bout for the most lucrative fight of his career.

David Haye described the victory over Maccarinelli as "the final piece" in his cruiserweight jigsaw.

David Haye then defeated heavyweight Monte Barrett at The O2 Arena in London on 15 November 2008, winning via TKO in the fifth round.

WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko confirmed he would defend his title in a fight with David Haye to take place on 20 June 2009, at Stamford Bridge in London.

David Haye then confirmed that he would meet the WBA champion Nikolay Valuev on 7 November 2009 in the Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany.

David Haye beat Valuev in a reserved display of accuracy and efficiency, countering Valuev's misses, jabbing and circling his much larger opponent.

David Haye came close to knocking Valuev down in the final round with a hard left hand, which made Valuev stumble.

David Haye is the first and currently only boxer in the history of the sport to be seven stone or more lighter than an opponent in a world title fight and still come out victorious.

David Haye defeated Ruiz in his first WBA title defence by TKO in the ninth round after knocking Ruiz down four times during the fight.

On 13 November 2010, David Haye defeated Harrison with one minute, seven seconds remaining of the third round by TKO.

David Haye staggered to his feet after being knocked down, only for Haye to immediately pounce right back on him, hitting him with another flurry of punches.

BBC chief Charlie Smith told The Sun on 11 October 2011 that David Haye had informed him that he would not be renewing his boxing licence, thus retiring from the sport.

David Haye put retirement on hold and was in negotiations for a possible bout with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on 3 March 2012.

David Haye attended the 2012 WBC heavyweight title fight in which Vitali Klitschko defeated Derek Chisora.

David Haye won the fight with a fifth-round stoppage in front of over 40,000 spectators.

David Haye was due to fight Manuel Charr at Manchester Arena on 29 June 2013.

However, the fight was called off because David Haye had suffered an injury.

David Haye later arranged a fight with Tyson Fury at the same venue on 28 September 2013.

However, a week before the fight, David Haye sustained a cut to the head which required several stitches, so yet again the fight was postponed.

However David Haye dropped out of the fight on 17 November 2013 after shoulder surgery.

In 2015, David Haye switched trainers from Adam Booth to Shane McGuigan, son of former WBA featherweight champion Barry McGuigan.

David Haye came in at the highest weight of his career, appearing to have gained a lot of muscle mass since the lay off.

David Haye employed much less movement than in previous fights and came forward methodically, knocking out de Mori in 113 seconds of the first round.

On 26 January 2016, David Haye announced his next fight, would take place on 21 May 2016 at The O2 in London in David Haye's pursuit of reclaiming and unifying the heavyweight world titles.

David Haye's opponent was the little known Swiss fighter Arnold Gjergjaj.

David Haye did not agree to fight Briggs immediately but instead offered him the chance to fight on his undercard, promising that he would fight him next if he was victorious.

David Haye floored Gjergjaj with a right hand inside the first 30 seconds of the fight, and then proceeded drop him again with a left jab and a third time with a chopping right in the second round before the fight was waved off by the referee.

Briggs continued to call out David Haye, asking him to honour his end of the agreement.

On 3 March 2017, David Haye weighed 224.9 pounds, heavier than Bellew who came in at 213lbs, a career high.

The bout started as a stalemate until the sixth round, when David Haye injured his achilles tendon, causing him to fall twice.

Bellew then took control of the fight as David Haye opted to continue.

David Haye managed to make it to his feet, but his corner threw in the towel, giving Bellew a TKO win.

David Haye was taken to the hospital following the bout but was released the next morning.

David Haye, staggering around the ring like a Saturday night drunk, went down swinging, his right ankle strapped in the ninth then unstrapped, his aged body sagging under every assault.

Some rumours indicated that McGuigan had urged David Haye to retire, which eventually caused the split.

On 12 July 2017, David Haye confirmed that he had begun strengthening his ankle and he would slowly start training for his next fight which would likely take place in December 2017.

David Haye weighed 220.2 pounds, 4 pounds lighter than the first fight.

David Haye started the opening two rounds using his jab, leaving a mark around Bellew's right eye.

David Haye managed to beat the count again, not long before Bellew started unloading a barrage of punches.

Immediately after the fight David Haye congratulated Bellew on the win.

David Haye stated he would review the tapes and see what went wrong.

On 12 June 2018, David Haye released a statement via social media announcing his retirement.

David Haye confirmed that Joe Joyce would headline the card, making his debut against experienced former WBO Asia Pacific champion Ian Lewison.

David Haye married make-up artist Natasha in 2008, with whom he has a son named Cassius.

David Haye sometimes wore the Northern Cypriot flag on his shorts alongside the English, United Kingdom, and Jamaican flags.

David Haye was selected for the final 10 shortlist for the 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award for his performances against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison.