Despite what he may believe, even if David Haye avenges his loss to Tony Bellew in their upcoming December 17 rematch, his options as a competitive heavyweight boxer will still appear limited.

He might, however, have a bright future outside the ring as a promoter. The former two-weight world champion promotes Joe Joyce, a Rio silver medalist who won his pro debut last Friday.

And Haye seems to have a lot of respect for Joyce's punching power. Despite having the same coach, Ismael Salas, the 37-year-old has revealed he will never spar against his client.

Although it would be relatively easy to organise, Haye admits he is concerned someone would get hurt.

“If we both get in the ring with each other, we’ve both got one gear and it’s just hard and something will get broke," he said, according to Boxing News Online.

"Either I’ll get broke or he’ll get broke and I don’t want to break me and I don’t want to break him.

"Neither of us, him particularly, he can’t spar soft… I’ll have to go 100% and he goes 100%. Something’s going to break and I’d rather he do that to other people, his opponents in the ring.”

Joyce, 32, stopped Ian Lewison in the eighth round of his pro-debut at the O2 in London last Saturday night. He left his 36-year-old opponent with a swollen eye-socket and prompted his corner to throw in the towel.

According to Haye, though, that performance was only a fraction of what the Olympian is capable of.

The Hayemaker added: “He got a very, very good learning fight in his first professional fight. He’s shown 30 to 40% of what he can do, compared to what I’ve seen in sparring. So I’m very, very positive about his future.”

Overall, Haye was very satisfied with how Joyce's debut went and is pleased it lasted more than just a couple of rounds.

“Exactly the fight I wanted. I couldn’t have scripted it any better. What I didn’t want was him to fight someone, he hits them on the chin and they fall over. Because that just gives him a false sense of security about his power.

“Fighters even at domestic level, guys like Chisora, they’ve got granite chins, you can’t just expect to go out, hit them with one shot and knock them out. [Ian Lewison] had 11 weeks notice.

"I wanted to make sure Ian was in shape to go 10 rounds and he was clearly. He’s not the most body beautiful fighter but he’s shown he’s got bags of heart and he’s there for 10 rounds if you allow him to.”

Meanwhile Haye also started looking ahead to his upcoming clash against Bellew and remains confident he can emerge the victor this time around.

“I’m in good form, you’ll get a much more entertaining fight. I am much better than many people anticipate. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I feel good, I’ve been training hard. I had an operation on the Sunday, the Monday I was back in training.

"I haven’t stopped training the whole time. I’m in great condition now. I could fight tomorrow. I’m 12 round fit now. It’s a good place to be eight weeks out from a fight.”