In one of the last major British bouts of the year, Tony Bellew and David Haye go up against each other for the second time on December 17.

The first meeting between the two resulted in a very unexpected win for Bellew, who stopped an injured Haye in the 11th round.

The London-born fighter picked up a very serious Achilles injury but nevertheless, the Merseyside man was on hand to put him to the sword.

Prior to the second bout being arranged, there was a feeling that Bellew would look for a new challenge, however, his favoured opponent Andre Ward opted to take an early retirement from the sport.

On Monday morning, many boxing fans will have woken to the the rumour that Haye had picked up an injury in his training camp and that the fight could potentially be called off.

It would be a hammer blow to both Bellew and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, however the latter has reacted to the news and provided some crucial information.

HEARN SAYS IT WAS A TACTIC BY HAYE'S CAMP

"I said to Tony Bellew – it’s probably they’ve leaked that, because that’s the sort of thing they do," Hearn told IFL TV. "When that broke I had spoken to a member of his team about the undercard about an hour before.

"I know he was training yesterday morning with a corporate day for Park Plaza, training fine. So I was a bit taken aback by it. So I spoke to the team and they said absolutely no problem."

Hearn then revealed that Sky Sports had personally spoken to Haye and he himself rubbished the rumours of injury.

HAYE RARING TO GO

"Then Sky then spoke to David Haye and said – oh we’ve seen this and he said – absolutely not true. I’m 100 per cent ready to go December 17th. It’s on."

Phew, so the fight is still on.

BELLEW ON HAYE

"I'm preparing for this fight exactly how I did for the first time round, preparing for a hard fight against a brilliant athlete," he said to Sky Sports.

"That's all this is, a fighter against an athlete.

"Haye's tone, manner and demeanour do not represent boxing as it should be. They do not show it in the right light. He's another fighter I need to get rid of.