<p><br /> David Haye has retracted his claims that he bet on himself to knock Audley Harrison out in the third round of the their world title fight on Saturday night.<br /> </p><p><br /> The pair met in Manchester where Haye successfully defended his WBA heavyweight belt with a third-round stoppage of Harrison, with the challenger barely registering a punch in a one-sided bout.<br /> </p><p><br /> Speaking after the fight, Haye claimed to have backed himself to win in the third round, saying that his friends and family had also profited.<br /> </p><p><br /> But he has now played that down, insisting that the only thing he earned from the fight was his purse.<br /> </p><p><br /> Speaking to Radio 5 Live he said: "I didn't physically go into a betting shop and say 'here's x amount of money'. What I did say was I would knock Audley out in three rounds.<br /> </p><p><br /> "If he came out earlier I would have knocked him out earlier. My prediction was the third round and I told a lot of people that."<br /> </p><p><br /> Haye also denied having bets placed on his behalf, adding: "I don't need to. I made enough money from the fight anyway. I don't need to earn extra money, but I told a lot of people around me. It makes the fight a little more exciting for people.<br /> </p><p><br /> "There was no online betting. It did feel like I'd bet on myself because a lot of people had put money on it, family members and what not.<br /> </p><p><br /> "If it had gone into the fourth round I knew people would have lost a lot of money and I'd have felt a bit guilty.<br /> </p><p><br /> "When I told them it was 11/1 a lot of people got on and made a lot of money out of it. When I told people it got out and it tumbled after that.<br /> </p><p><br /> "I told a lot of journalists. They said 'when do you know' and I said 'after the weigh-in'. I did the weigh-in, looked in his eyes and saw him trembling and said third.<br /> </p><p><br /> "He didn't give me anything to counter.<br /> </p><p><br /> "I could have pressed the action more but I chose to wait for the perfect opportunity and it happened to come in the third round. If I'd have told people I was going to stop him in the first round I would have. But I wanted to give people a few more rounds."<br /> </p><p><br /> Haye admitted that he did not know it was against the British Boxing Board of Control's regulations to bet on when you were going to win a fight, and their secretary Robin Smith revealed his surprise at this, but accepted Haye was telling the truth with his denial of betting.<br /> </p><p><br /> He said: "I was quite surprised and disappointed. Every year we send out the rules and regulations and if he'd have read it he'd have known.<br /> </p><p><br /> "I think from what David has said, and I heard the interview live, I'm fairly happy that everything was okay."<br /> </p>
