Video by Declan Taylor

London - UKTV has landed the exclusive UK rights for former boxing world champion David Haye’s long-awaited comeback fight. The match will be shown on UKTV’s flagship free-to-air entertainment channel, Dave, live from the O2 on Saturday 16 January at 9pm.

David Haye, the former world champion in two different weight categories, is returning to professional boxing with a heavyweight bout against Australia’s Mark De Mori. Haye’s comeback fight will be his first since defeating Dereck Chisora at Upton Park over three years ago and sees Haye take on a top 10 WBA ranked heavyweight in De Mori, who boasts a record of 30 wins (26 KOs), and only one defeat, since turning pro in 2004. De Mori is undefeated since September 2004 and most recently claimed a first round knock-out of Germany’s Marcel Zeller in October.

In addition to the live match, Dave is also showing a special half-hour preview show Haye v De Mori: The Countdown, the night before, on Friday 15th January at 8pm featuring the build up to the fight, the story of the preparation and the reason why David wants to stage a comeback.

Live Boxing: David Haye v Mark De Mori (TBC) will be shown live from the O2 and has been ordered by UKTV director of commissioning Richard Watsham and Dave general manager Steve North. The two-hour special (9pm – 11pm) will include highlights from the day’s boxing at the O2, music from DJ Driis (aka actor Idris Elba) and Rudimental, live studio discussions plus all the action from the ringside.

The Hayemaker, who is widely recognised as one of the best British boxers of all time, was the first British boxer to become a unified cruiserweight champion in 2008, winning three out of the four major world titles, as well as The Ring magazine title. Haye then moved up to heavyweight and won the WBA title in 2009 after defeating Russian giant Nikolai Valuev and in the process became only the second boxer in history to have unified the cruiserweight titles and won a heavyweight world championship.