By Terence Dooley

Peter Fury, the trainer of Tyson Fury, has told BoxingScene that his nephew still intends to fight on February the 8th despite the news of David Haye's second withdrawal from their ill-fated multimillion pounds showdown.  Haye and Fury were due to meet at Manchester's Phones 4U Arena only for Haye to announce that he has had to pull the plug on the contest after undergoing shoulder surgery in Germany on Thursday.

Unfortunately, Haye was advised to retire after the treatment and the "Hayemaker" may have to draw a line under a career that saw him rule the cruiserweight division as well as picking up the WBA heavyweight title with a decision win over Nikolay Valuev in November 2009.

Haye, 26-2 (24), made successful defences against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison — ninth and third round stoppage wins respectively — before losing his belt in a unification showdown against Wladimir Klitschko in July 2011 — a decision defeat in Hamburg, Germany.

Indeed, Haye had to postpone the original September 28th date due to a cut to his left eye, which he picked up in sparring just over a week before the contest itself, and the Londoner will be sorely disappointed about this latest bit of bad news.  It leaves Haye's career in limbo.  Sadly, his exciting fifth-round TKO win over Dereck Chisora at Upton Park in July of last year could be the last in-ring action of a distinguished career.

It leaves Manchester's Fury, 21-0 (15), without an opponent for the February showcase, but the 25-year-old intends to fight on that date, his team have already started the process of thinking about potential opponents. 

"This is no surprise, it's been expected," said Peter Fury when speaking to me about the latest news.

"We will get Tyson out on that date.  We want Bermane Stiverne [23-1-1 (20), Chris Arreola [36-3 (31)] or Deontay Wilder [30-0 (30)] and will stay in training for that date."

Despite his obvious disappoint, Peter is a pragmatist and he knows that they will have to give his nephew something to aim for in order to keep the prospect in good mental shape going into the Christmas period.  If promoter Mick Hennessy can deliver any of the names mentioned, the fight in prospect will give the 6' 9'' heavyweight plenty to focus on, and look forward to, during the next few months.

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