Boxing: David Haye and Tyson Fury agree 'fight of the year' in Manchester

 

Ken Mannion
Wednesday 10 July 2013 12:38 BST
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David Haye, left, is the bookmakers' favourite to beat Tyson Fury
David Haye, left, is the bookmakers' favourite to beat Tyson Fury (Getty Images)

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David Haye and Tyson Fury will finally fight in a heavyweight bout in Manchester on 28 September, both boxers' camps confirmed in a joint press release.

The announcement comes one day after Haye posted a video on Twitter purporting to show him signing a contract for the hotly anticipated fight. Fury did not comment on Haye's claims but the fact his promoters Hennessy Sports added their name to the press release suggests the fight is now a done deal.

The joint-statement read: "David Haye and Tyson Fury, both world-ranked, charismatic and dangerous, have agreed to a highly anticipated domestic contest on Saturday 28 September at the Manchester Arena.

"It marks not only the biggest heavyweight encounter of 2013, but also the biggest fight staged in Britain for many years."

Haye came out of his self- imposed sabbatical from the ring after his world title defeat by Wladimir Klitschko in 2011 with an impressive fifth-round stoppage win over another domestic rival, Dereck Chisora, at Upton Park last July, while Fury, 25, has won all 21 of his professional contests to date, most recently a seventh-round stoppage of American Steve Cunningham in New York in April.

Full details of the night's bouts will be revealed at a press conference scheduled for London tomorrow.

Nathan Cleverly has highlighted the impressive record of upcoming opponent Sergey Kovalev as a reason to get excited ahead of their world title bout in Cardiff on 17 August.

The WBO light-heavyweight champion will defend his title against the Russian Kovalev, who will provide a stern test as 19 of his 21 wins have come by way of knockout. But unbeaten Cleverly is relishing the prospect of facing the big-hitter and does not intend to put himself in a position to be added to Kovalev's list of victims.

"August 17 can't come quick enough," he said. "Kovalev has built this reputation of fear for his devastating knockouts. When I saw the KOs it excited me and I said 'I've got to have this guy'. But he [Kovalev] won't be able to hit what he can't see and I'll be throwing five, six, seven punches to every one punch he throws."

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