Daniel O’Sullivan

It’s no secret that the Bomber has long wanted to trade leather with the Hayemaker. 

David Haye on the other hand has promised to do "as much physical damage as possible" to Tony Bellew.

Both boxers are on a suspended sentence from the British Boxing Board of Control due to their conduct at the introductory press conference in November.  

Haye (28-2) has fought at heavyweight in his last nine fights. His only career losses coming against fellow countryman Carl Thompson at cruiserweight and former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko. The latter of whom is scheduled to fight Anthony Joshua, a potential future opponent for Haye, on April 29.

Haye has come under criticism from boxing chiefs and fans for his behaviour in the buildup to the fight. Love him or hate him, the South Londoner certainly knows how to sell a pay-per-view event.

Speaking to talkSPORT’s Jim White, Haye said: "It's not about knocking this guy down for 10 seconds; I want to do this guy some serious damage.”

"I don’t believe it should be taking place. I think it’s too dangerous. I think something horrific will happen on Saturday night."

In his last bout with a British opponent there were similar scenes of controversy. Both he and Dereck Chisora were separated by a steel fence at press conferences prior to fight night.

Now onto the Liverpudlian, who has fought 13 times since Haye’s TKO victory over Chisora.

Bellew (28-1-2) moved from light-heavy to cruiserweight in 2014 but is stepping up to heavyweight for the first time. He redeemed his first professional defeat against Nathan Cleverly three years later, but was beaten convincingly by Adonis Stevenson.

Speaking to The Independent, Bellew said: “If he thinks I'm a walk in the park, he's in for a mistake. A big, big mistake. If I hit David clean, he'll go the same way Makabu and Flores went. If David hits me clean, I'll go the way them two went as well.”

After weeks of verbally assaulting each other, the weigh in proved to be a much tamer affair than anticipated. Former WBA heavyweight champion Haye weighed in at 16st 9oz while his rival Bellew was, as expected, the lighter of the fighters at 15st 3lb 8oz.

Haye has had just two fights in the last four-and-a-half years, brushing aside both opponents with ease. However, many feel that this fight is just too big a jump up for Bellew regardless of Haye’s ring absence.

Haye took just 130 seconds to knock out de Mori and most recently dominated Gjergjaj in a second round TKO. Bellew argues that the two fighters should have never been in the ring.

Bellew has publicly stated that Haye does not have the stamina to go past four rounds. Haye has dismissed this notion, arguing that the fight won’t last even nearly that long.

There’s no denying that Haye is the more powerful of the two, but Bellew represents by far the toughest challenge he has faced in years. The natural heavyweight comes into the fight as strong favorite. If the battle does go into the latter rounds however, anything could happen.

Whatever occurs in the ring, this British grudge match certainly won’t be short of entertainment.