Boris "Bubs" Malloy
The third time’s the charm for David Haye’s comeback fight. After injuries side tracked bouts with Manuel Charr and Tyson Fury, “the Hayemaker” will officially make his return to the ring early next year, when he faces heavyweight Mark “The Dominator” de Mori at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, London (January 16th, 2016).
How do the fighters stack up?
David Haye
This will mark Haye’s (26-2) first fight since 2012. But at 35-years-old, the British boxer has big plans beyond this fight. Haye is apparently already setting up his next fight against undefeated fellow countrymen Anthony Joshua.
Of course, with so much time off since his last fight, overlooking de Mori would be a mistake. After shoulder surgery in 2013, doctors advised Haye to retire. Obviously he’s drawn a beatable opponent in his return to get his feet back, but it will be interesting to see if Haye can pack the same punch that he did earlier in his career, when he won 86-percent of his fights by knockout. Haye fought in the cruiserweight class until 2008.
Mark de Mori
While he hasn’t been fighting the best opponents, de Mori (30-1-2) enters this fight on a nice run, having won his last 20 fights. The Australian-born heavyweight is coming off of a first-round knockout of Marcel Zeller back in October. With 25 career knockouts under his belt, de Mori is a threat. But currently ranked 106th in the world by BoxRec, it seems unlikely that he’ll be able to stop Haye’s comeback bid in its tracks.
Odds and Betting Play
Haye is a heavy favorite at 1/25 odds. Given the knockout percentage of both these fighters, the draw is pretty much out the window at 33/1. At 8/1 odds to win, oddsmakers are acknowledging the possibility that de Mori could connect on a good shot and end it, but the odds seem to favor an early knockout by Haye. Betting the under on rounds seems like the best way to make any coin in this fight.
(Photo credit: Loura Conerney [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)
