By Edward Chaykovsky

Former two division world champion David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) is taking a lot of heat from the fans for what they feel is a lackluster comeback.

Fighting for the first time since July of 2012, Haye made his return on January 14th and blew out Mark De Mori in one round. He then came back in March and took out Arnold Gjergjaj in two rounds.

Haye explains that he would have liked to get much better names, but he didn't have the budget or the money at his disposal to secure more recognizable names.

"You have a budget when you make a fight. If I had a big powerhouse like Sky Sports – who have millions of pounds at their disposal – behind me, I would have probably been able to get bigger names. But the fact I was fighting on [free to view TV channel] Dave, and they had only been in the [boxing] game for a short period of time, we were unable to do that. It wasn’t about getting a lot of money out of them; it was about building a platform," Haye explained to GQ.

"Arnold Gjergjaj was 29 fights unbeaten – he had the second longest winning streak in heavyweight boxing. If he had gone eight rounds with me and it was a nip and tuck type fight people would have said it was great. But I knocked him out easy. I don’t think it was because he was that bad; I think it was because I am that good. Everyone is a genius after the fight. When I get these guys out of there quickly people start moaning."

Haye was scheduled to return in the fall. Since May, he was building a potential fight with former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs. They due to fight in December. The fight never happened.

Briggs' version of the events is that Haye completely cut off all communication and never got back to him. According to Haye, Briggs was refusing to go forward with the fight unless it took place on pay-per-view. He also claims Lucas Browne rejected an offer of $2 million.

"We agreed terms with Shannon Briggs, but he would only fight me on pay-per-view. I didn’t really care. It was a bit like the Bellew fight, there was nothing on the line. Briggs and his team claimed they could bring a title to the table and wanted to fight on PPV. But they couldn’t. So the fight had to be screened on terrestrial television and ticket sales alone wouldn’t have given him the big pay day. The fight didn’t happen as a direct result of that," Haye said.

"We also offered $2 million to Lucas Browne before and after he was named mandatory challenger for the WBA regular title, but he wasn’t interested either."

In the end, Haye finalized a deal to fight WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew on March 4th at the O2 Arena in London. Bellew is moving up to heavyweight and the fight takes place on Sky Sports Box Office.