Weights: David Haye 227¼, Mark De Mori 243½

Mark De Mori admits he’s the B-side on David Haye’s comeback single but the Australian heavyweight is adamant he won’t be cannon fodder for the former two-time world champion at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday.

Haye, 35, is fighting for the first time in three and a half years, and weighed in at 227¼ pounds, the highest of his career. Haye, the former world champion in two different weight categories, is returning to professional boxing with a heavyweight bout against Australia’s Mark De Mori. I’ve got experience now. He’s got to retain them in Germany again.

David Haye believes the biggest fight in the heavyweight division for him is a showdown with Anthony Joshua. He’s thinking that I’ve already pulled out twice, I don’t care about him blah, blah, blah. “He’s got business to take care of”. Outlining a theory that sounded conspiratorial but far from outlandish, Haye suggested the Englishman might have been awarded the decision against Klitschko only because the judges who made it knew there was a rematch clause. But, of course, I want to beat him up. While Haye recuperated from shoulder surgery to address a career-threatening injury, Joshua’s inexorable rise saw him power through 15 opponents all via knockout – an explosive introduction that culminated in victory over Dillian Whyte last December. “Bigger than Tyson Fury, bigger than Vyacheslav Glazkov, bigger than Deontay Wilder – Joshua is a stadium fight”.

“It’s the unknown because nobody knows what I’ve got left, except me”, he said. Look too good against De Mori and Haye could be seen as too much of a threat for Joshua at this time by promoter Eddie Hearn, with the Olympic gold medallist and world amateur silver victor having come through a very tough examination against Dillian Whyte in London on Dec 12. “I’m not in a position to dictate anything”. I’ve been a fan of his in the time I’ve been out.