World Boxing News heard late on Saturday the news David Haye may have to pull out of his scheduled rematch with Tony Bellew on December 17.

Digging a little deeper and without reporting the rumour immediately, WBN have since learned Haye’s troublesome achilles is the culprit and could mean the two-weight world champion may have to retire.

The injury hampered Haye during his March clash with Bellew, in which the 37 year-old was stopped for only the second time in his 15 year professional stint at London’s O2 Arena.

A second bout was due to take place in five weeks’ time, although Haye is rated as touch and go to take part and may be forced to step away from boxing should the ailment continue to be a problem.

With a paycheck in the millions on the line, Haye will predictably give his recovery every chance before calling off a fight which was being billed as redemption for a defeat the heavyweight is adamant should never have happened.

Haye had his achilles checked in the run-up to the initial meeting with Bellew, and despite reportedly being told he wasn’t one hundred percent by doctors, the Londoner still went through with the fight only to be severely hampered during the defeat.

This time around, and after several months including surgery to correct the problem, it’s hard to see how Haye could carry on with any sort of future encounter if there’s no improvement after eight months.

Promoter Eddie Hearn was staging an event on a Sunday for only the second time in his Matchroom tenure, but should Haye confirm his cancellation – which is a very real possibility – the plug would then have to be pulled on the Sky Box Office date.

Should the fight continue, Bellew’s underdog odds of 9/4 with some UK bookmakers would alter dramatically to combat what could be a fourth loss for Haye next month.

In the co-feature, British super-middleweight champion Rocky Fielding is set to battle Erik Skoglund in his bid to push forward towards a world title shot.