Tyson Fury still wants the fight but his camp members are seriously questioning the validity of the cut sustained by David Haye, which forced their all-British heavyweight showdown to be scrapped at such short notice.

The grudge meeting was slated for this Saturday, at the Manchester Arena, England, until Haye, 32, announced at the weekend he was pulling out because of an eye injury picked up 24 hours earlier in his final sparring session.

Mick Hennessy, Fury’s promoter, has since confirmed he is working ‘around the clock’ to ensure one of the most eagerly-anticipated heavyweight bouts in recent years will go ahead early in 2014. Late January or early February appears to be favorite.

However, in the meantime former heavyweight and cruiserweight titleholder Haye has some explaining to do, according to sports lawyer Chris Farnell, who represents Fury. He believes Haye, who needed six stitches in the wound above his left eye, could be dodging the undefeated contender from Manchester.

“There are serious doubts as to whether Haye actually wanted this fight with Tyson or not,” Farnell said to BBC Sport. “Haye has said his injury was caused by sparring. Well, I’m not sure how many professional boxers so close to a fight spar so heavily.

“He’s sustained this huge cut on his eye. So he didn’t have a headguard on? Or, if he did have one on, how did he get caught with such a big punch? There are frustrating questions that we are forced to ask as a result of the excuses we’re being given.

“It’s a fact now – the fight has been delayed. It all seems rather convenient to us, to be honest.”

Fury, THE RING’s No. 6-ranked heavyweight, has posted a few choice tweets regarding Haye’s latest withdrawal. But, if far from happy with his rival, 25-year-old Fury (25-0, 15 knockouts) seems ready to wait for Haye (26-2, 21 KOs) to make a full recovery – albeit with a hastily-arranged bout in between to keep him active.

“Let’s get it back on. Looking to put Tyson on this year to keep busy,” said his trainer and uncle, Peter Fury via Twitter. “To all the fans – if you want the Haye fight to happen then we’ll go for it again. Let’s get the fight back on. We’ll make it happen.”

And Haye has also given a clear hint that a new date is all but finalised.

“Things are finally now looking up, as a rescheduled date for me to beat up (T)yson Furry is very close to being officially made,” tweeted the RING’s No.2-rated heavyweight on Monday evening.
 

You can follow Harry Pratt on Twitter: @gharrypratt