Tony Bellew faces David Haye again on May 5 (Picture: Reuters)

Tony Bellew once received £100 from David Haye for a sparring session in 2005, and the Londoner was so shook by the experience he pulled out of a scheduled fight the next day.

That is according to Bellew, who says he and fellow Liverpudlian David Price were drafted in to train with Haye ahead of the heavyweight’s showdown with Mark Hobson.

Haye’s team offered Bellew £100 and the young amateur jumped at the chance to go toe-to-toe with one of the most exciting heavyweights in Britain.

Bellew is one of just three fighters to ever beat Haye, and the 35-year-old insists he has known for the last 13 years he would eventually face his old sparring partner.




‘David Price hit him so hard that he spun 360 degrees,’ Bellew said.

‘If we could drop him we would get a bonus. We got paid £100 to spar and we would get a bonus if we dropped him. It was £500 or £1,000.

(Picture: PA Wire)

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Haye was a rising star in 2005 (Picture: PA Wire)

‘Price hit him then stood there and I’ve screamed: ‘F****** kill him! Finish him! You’re being paid to drop him.’ But Pricey just stood there… ever since that sparring session, I knew I was going to face him.’

Bellew pocketed £2.8million in March last year from the first fight, but after pulling off a stunning upset, the natural cruiserweight will claim upwards of £3m for the rematch on May 5.

‘Last time I had my pants pulled down and f***** in the a**,’ Bellew says after Haye managed to collect a massive £4.2m despite losing the first bout.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

But, after dictating the terms for the rematch, a fight Haye was desperate to secure, Bellew is set for a career-high payday in ten weeks time.

The figure is miles away from the £100 Haye once forked out for a sparring session with Bellew.

Haye is desperate to deliver on the destruction he promised in the first encounter and Bellew admitted the 2005 sparring session punches he received from his rival are still the hardest hits he has ever taken.

(Picture: PA Wire)

‘He didn’t know who I was, I’d just won my first ABA title and he got punched all over the place,’ Bellew recalls.

‘In the first round, his first punch – I’ve never been hit so hard in my life. He hit me with a right uppercut and I stood there and my back leg just went up like a donkey, I don’t know why it did it.

‘I said to him: ‘Good shot’ and the look on his face that I was still standing, he was gutted.’