David Haye: Everything to Lose, Everything to Gain.

David Haye: Everything to Lose, Everything to Gain.

For David Haye going into his critical rematch with Tony Bellew, it really is a case of everything to lose and everything to gain.

Victory tonight at the O2 in London will see him right back in the mix for massive pay days against the likes of Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder or even Tyson Fury. When you have the name, you are marketable and you are perceived not to be as good as you once were, the phone will undoubtedly ring.

But a 2nd defeat to Bellew will be the end, there will be no coming back from that and sadly I fear that will harm how people remember Haye, the price you pay for carrying on for too long, people soon forget your prime and what you achieved in it.

The Haye we see this time in the build up is a different Haye than we saw last time. Convinced as we all were that one punch would be all he needed, he prepared for the fight as such. This time the penny seems to have dropped, he looks better on the scales,  and the signs are that he has prepared knowing this could be it.

But as someone reminded me yesterday, since 2012 Haye has only boxed 14 rounds and 11 of them were against Bellew. None of us including Haye knows for sure if he really can still do it, and the inactivity and a fragile body may well prove his undoing tonight.

But I am sticking with my original prediction that Haye will box with a little more thought and have enough of his skills left to eventually stop his man around round 7.

If  the victory does come, and it might only be a stay of execution, but Haye will live to fight another day and towards the end of the year he could be involved in a very big fight indeed.