It emerged yesterday that David Haye had torn his bicep in a freak accident in a stair conditioning session, meaning Bermondsey-born Haye would need surgery and be unavailable for the much-anticipated Tony Bellew rematch on December 17.

Word from the Bellew camp claims that the Liverpudlian is fit, strong, in great shape, and therefore all the more frustrated that this fight has been postponed.

What would have been a major pay-per-view event in the UK just before Christmas, this is not the first of recent events to need replacements.

Anthony Joshua lost challenger Kubrat Pulev for his fight last month with his replacement named as Carlos Takam, and Deontay Wilder lost Luis Ortiz as well due to the latter failing a drugs test.

There is no simple solution or rush to replace Haye with another big fighter after the date has been abandoned, but Bellew's team hold out hope that a challenge for WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker could be an option.

The New Zealander's team are not willing to oblige, however.

Speaking to Boxing News, Parker's team claimed that: "With the greatest amount of respect to Tony Bellew, we have zero interest in stepping in at short notice and replacing the injured David Haye on December 17th."

They added: "That's despite our team having 100 percent belief it would be an easy payday and easy win for Joseph Parker. Bellew is not ranked in the top 15 of the WBO and needs reminding he is ineligible for a title shot anyway."

Strong words from the Parker camp.

The New Zealander is one of many desperate to challenge Haye's British counterpart Anthony Joshua, and his team are said to be in the midst of negotiating a potential heavyweight unification clash with the IBF and WBO champion.

With Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury recently posting on social media how desperate they are to fight Joshua, you have to feel for Tony Bellew and his lack of challengers.

Rio Ferdinand is meant to be training to be a boxer, right?