David Haye blames toe injury for poor performance on Who Wants to be a Millionaire

Former heavyweight champion of the world David Haye has blamed a toe injury suffered in training for his lacklustre performance on ITV's 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'.

The now-retired British boxer took part in a special celebrity edition of the long-running TV quiz show last week.

As a boxer, Haye made a name for himself in the cruiserweight division with his jaw-dropping power, silky skills and lightning fast speed, unifying three of the four major belts before moving up to the heavyweight division and winning the WBA strap against the 7 foot Russian giant Nikolai Valuev.

But Haye was anything but slick and speedy when it came to answering even the most basic questions posed by host Jeremy Clarkson, taking an age to answer the £300 question and needing the audience to tell him what type of glass you drink champagne out of. No David, it's not a champagne cello; it's a flute.

Viewers across the UK laughed as the Hayemaker miraculously fumbled his way to winning £8,000 for charity, and as soon as his ordeal was over he was quick to explain his poor performance, turning to the audience and stating:

"I'm sorry everyone. It's my toe again. I was doing a bit of training before the show, practising my walk to the chair when my little toe just snapped.

"I think it's been weak ever since the Klitschko fight, and this time it was even worse. I couldn't be as explosive with my steps when I was walking to shake Jeremy's hand and it just threw me off for the rest of the show."

Removing his shoe and sock so the studio audience could see his ailing foot, Haye continued: "I thought adrenaline would get me through it but it was tough. It's incredibly frustrating. We were thinking about pulling out three weeks ago but we couldn't with all these great fans here."

It's unclear at this stage if Haye will ever quiz again, but he is said to be undergoing surgery in the near future with a view to returning on BBC's 'Celebrity Mastermind' as early as September 2020.

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