David Haye forced to postpone his fight with Manuel Charr

David Haye has been forced to pull out of his fight against Manuel Charr due to a hand injury.

The damage to his left hand occurred on Sunday evening and left the former WBA heavyweight champion with no option but to postpone his return to the ring.

“I’m absolutely gutted to have to pull out of this fight on June 29,” he said. “I pick up injuries now and again in training, and sometimes carry them into fights, but this was one I simply couldn’t recover from in time. I need to rest it up for at least four weeks.

“I apologise to Manuel Charr and to everybody involved with the promotion. But most of all I want to say sorry to the thousands of fans who bought tickets to the fight.

“I felt it was important to let them know about the cancellation as soon as possible, so they can now make other plans.

“As soon as I am told I can resume full training, my loyal fans will be the first to know.”

The news is a blow to Haye, who has not been in action since beating Dereck Chisora last summer and was hoping to fight twice this year in a bid to become mandatory challenger to one of the dominant Klitschko brothers.

The big promotion at the Manchester Arena was due to feature the return of Gavin Rees against Anthony Crolla plus Lee Selby’s latest outing, but the undercard will be moved to another show with full refunds available.