Never again will anyone question Tony Bellew's ability as a boxer following Saturday night's shock victory over David Haye at the O2 Arena.

No one gave the Liverpudlian - who made the step up from cruiserweight - a hope in hell's chance of winning, with Haye noticeable bigger at the weigh-in.

He looked so much smaller, in fact, that boxing fans were genuinely scared for him.

How wrong were we. In a display of courage and sheer determination, Bellew beat Haye by TKO in the 11th round after his opponent suffered a nasty-looking Achilles injury in the sixth.

Even Haye, who appeared so confident ahead of the fight, couldn't help but praise the 34-year-old for the way he fought.

In truth, the fight should have been so different. Haye is widely regarded as one of the world's most dangerous heavyweight boxers and should have won comfortably.

But he looked slow and lethargic in the opening rounds, meaning he couldn't land a big punch on the lighter and quicker Bellew.

As we know, it was Bellew who came up trumps in the end for not only winning, but for how he avoided celebrating to see if his opponent was okay.

Bellew has since been lauded for his moment of class and, in a recent interview with Sky Sports,  he explained what would have happened if the shoe was on the other foot.

"I think he's shown a more humble side to him, which he needed to show, because in the build-up to this fight, he said some horrendous things," he said. "This whole build-up, I've just been me.

"I was there at the end. Would he have shown the same compassion to me?

"If he had done to me what he said he was going to do in one or two rounds, he would have just belittled me, laughed at me, and made a fool of me. He really, really would of. There was no way back for me.

"I looked at him and while my promoter and my trainer were jumping for joy and screaming on me, I looked at the man and he was hurt, he was badly, badly hurt.

"He didn't have one person close to him, I'm being totally honest, who cared and wanted to help him back, and I did.

"I felt for David, because I know what it's like to be a loser, I know what it's like to be stopped on my feet. I just wanted to help him back to his stool."

Bellew is probably right. We'll never know for sure how Haye would have reacted to winning, but based on his pre-fight comments, he wouldn't have shown any mercy.