David Haye v Tony Bellew: Your betting preview for the big fight

If there’s one thing you should know about the hotly anticipated bout between David Haye (28-2, 26 KO) and Tony Bellew (28-2, 18 KO), it’s that punters aren’t entirely convinced by the incredibly short odds for The Hayemaker to breeze past his opponent.

In fact, a staggering 71 per cent of all bets placed at the time of writing have been on the Liverpudlian.

That’s actually seen his odds fall, albeit only slightly, from 9/2 to 4/1 in the last few days, while Haye remains a long odds-on shot (1/6).

And if you wanted to follow the current trend, you’d be wise to back this fight being over within the 12 rounds.

That’s because 87 per cent of all stakes taken so far on the method of victory have either been on Haye to win by KO, TKO or Disqualification (2/7), or Bellew to do the same (6/1).

And history also suggests that’ll be the case.

As the Hayemaker’s record shows, 26 of his 28 previous wins have been by that method, while 18 of Bellew’s 28 victories have been over before the final bell.

“Ultimately I see Haye being too slick and powerful for Bellew and, after some entertainment, Haye to win in Round 5 at 8/1. The fight to be decided in Rounds 4-6 is 11/5 and is decent value too.”

That’s the verdict of our boxing trader, Adam Williamson.

And it looks as though people are agreeing with that view, as Haye to win in Round 5 is proving to be one of the more popular selections in that market, while people have been getting on Haye winning in rounds 4-6 since we released our interview with Adam this morning.

David Haye has already announced a retirement from boxing once in his career, before putting it on hold to fight Dereck Chisora in 2012.

But were he to lose against Bellew, it’s hard to see a way back for the 36-year-old. And with that in mind, we’re going 16/1 about Haye losing on Saturday night and retiring from the sport within a week.

The verdict

In truth, we can’t see a way past Haye. But with the odds being so short on him to win outright, we have to look at where else the value might lie.

And that’s left us – like our boxing expert – leaning towards the fight being over between rounds 5-6.

Everyone will be expecting The Hayemaker to get this one over and done early on, but surely Bellew will have prepared for an early attack.

We’d be surprised if the fight went into Round 7, and at the same time we just can’t see Bellew winning by KO.

If we were pushed to pick a round in which Haye wins, we’d be leaning towards the sixth, available at 10/1.

Click here for a full list of David Haye v Tony Bellew odds.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing