David Haye signalled his return to the heavyweight division with an impressive knock-out against Mark De Mori.
Former heavyweight champ Haye sparked out the inferior Australian just 131 seconds into the fight at the 02 arena in front of 16,000 people and 3 million watching at home.
The win has catapulted the 35-year-old back into the top 10 in the WBA heavyweight rankings.
But any hopes of Haye challenging for a title in 2016 and setting up a big money fight with either Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua are fading.
Even thought the Hayemaker is now 9th in the official rankings, his route is crowded to get himself into a position to challenge for a belt.
Tyson Fury holds to WBA ‘super’ belt after beating Wladimir Klitschko. A rematch is already planned between the Mancunian champ and the Ukranian, and Fury has already told Haye he will never get a fight after he pulled out twice from fights in 2013.
Ruslan Chagaev holds the ‘regular’ WBA belt and is preparing to fight Number 2-ranked fighter Lucas Browne, who is trained by Ricky Hatton.
Luis Ortiz, who is ranked Number 1, is also set to fight Number 5-ranked fighter Alexander Ustinov which means it’s going to be a struggle for Haye to get a shot at his former belt any time soon.
Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told fans on Twitter that a potential bout with Haye is too big not to happen.
Too big not to happen 💥 https://t.co/GqEwlzT6MF
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) January 16, 2016
But comments made by the Matchroom Promotions man have seemingly scotched any chance of Haye making that fight without a world title around his waist.
Hearn said: “We are targeting a world title in 2016 and David doesn’t really help with that cause. It’s a big fight and a big pay day, but those are being delivered for Anthony naturally anyway.
“I’m sure if they keep winning, the fight has every chance of happening, but right now the focus is on that world title.”
