David Haye needs 'two or three more fights' before launching world title bid

David Haye thinks he needs "two or three" more fights before he challenges for a world title. The London-born star ended his three-and-a-half year exile from the ring on 16 January by beating Mark de Mori in devastating fashion. However, the former two-time champion has admitted he remains some way off fighting for a belt.

Haye won the bout at the O2 Arena inside one round, knocking his rival out with a series of clubbing right hands. The 35-year-old is now targeting a better quality of opponent as he strives to regain the heavyweight championship.

Asked how many fights he will need before he is ready to challenge for a title, Haye said: "I don't know, maybe two or three." However, he subsequently revealed he was keen to get back in the ring as soon as possible. "The division is wide open. There's lots of different options out there. There's not just one dominant heavyweight right now that has all the belts. Money talks at the end of the day," he said, according to The Guardian.

Haye, meanwhile, admitted to being shocked at how easy he found his return to the ring to be. "I heard that he'd been practising keeping a very tight guard, walking forward and trying to test me," said Haye of De Mori. "I wasn't expecting a quick blowout like that. I don't think there's too many heavyweights on the planet that could take those kinds of shots."

He admitted, too, that he had harboured doubts about his speed and punching power before the fight, having spent so long out of the ring with a shoulder problem. "As much as I believed I could do it, I just didn't know," he confessed. "I'd never spent three and a half years out of the ring."