The former champion in two weight categories, Briton David Haye, who performed in the undercard of yesterday’s Thriller show, admitted that until the last moment he considered the fight between Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort to be an exhibition.
David Haye gave a strong response after being in the ring to watch Vitor Belfort knock out 58-year-old Evander Holyfield on Saturday night.
The Briton scored an eight-round victory over his superior friend Joe Fournier on the undercard on Saturday night, and then reappeared to witness the main event.
Haye beat his buddy on points, being careful not to properly hurt him
Holyfield was knocked down, stunned and stopped within a minute by the former UFC champion.
And Haye was disgusted by this sight.
“It was horrible to see,” David Haye told iFL TV. It was horrible to see my hero getting starched in one round. I really didn’t like seeing that at all. But that’s boxing. I thought the fight was an exhibition, I thought it was gonna be an exhibition of boxing. It was no real exhibition there…I talked to Vitor yesterday at the weigh-in and said, ‘You’re not gonna go out there and smoke him?’ Because obviously he’s 44 and still in good shape, fighting a 58-year-old. He said, ‘Yeah, legends respect legends.’
Holyfield was taken out within the first round by Belfort
“I thought he was gonna move him round, we might see a points decision. He went out there and just blasted him out. I was like, ‘What are you doing? He’s 58.’ And he was celebrating like he’s done something impressive. What’s impressive about knocking out a 58-year-old? Different people have different values of respect. I was very disappointed.” Haye told iFL TV.