Tony Bellew has registered one of the biggest upsets in recent boxing history with an 11th-round stoppage of David Haye during their heavyweight bout at the O2 Arena in London this evening.
A remarkable fight saw Haye battle on through injury from the sixth round until his corner finally threw in the towel after he had been knocked out of the ring in the 11th round.
Haye had vowed to brutally knock his rival out in the early rounds, but the former heavyweight champion set his sights too much on the knockout punch and struggled to catch Bellew in the early rounds.
The 36-year-old started to settle into the bout as the rounds passed by, but his ankle protection broke in the sixth round and Haye seemed to be struggling with an Achilles injury from that point on.
Bellew launched a flurry of punches in attempt to finish the fight, and Haye was knocked down three times in the round as he struggled to keep his footing on his injury.
Haye continued to hang on though, spending much of his time on the ropes and searching for the one knockout blow that looked to be his only hope of rescuing the fight.
The injury meant that he could not get enough power behind his punches, though, and Bellew began to rack up the rounds before Haye's corner finally threw in the towel after he had been knocked out of the ring by the Liverpudlian.
The pair had been involved in a bitter war of words in the build-up to the fight, but they embraced after the bell and ended the fight on good terms, opening the door for a potential rematch in the future.
Barney Corkhill
