David Haye
Haye last fought in July 2012, beating Dereck Chisora.

Former British heavyweight champion David Haye has designs on staging a return to the sport despite fears his career-ending shoulder injury may never fully heal.

The 33 year old was forced to withdraw from facing fellow-Brit Tyson Fury in February after undergoing major shoulder surgery and was understood to be facing retirement for a second time.

Though Haye has yet to confirm a second retirement from boxing, he continues to undergo significant periods of rehab in order to regain movement in the shoulder and despite his plight the former WBA world heavyweight champion has not given up a return.

Haye told The Guardian: "They had to pin it all back together. I was throwing the same punch that I've thrown hundreds of times, a right hook.

"That's the muscle, the subscapilaris, that brings the arm across. That's my punch. I'm not called the Hayemaker for nothing. It did my bicep as well. It had to be re-attached to my shoulder.

"So it wasn't a good situation. But people have recovered from similar situations in the past, and some haven't. So, we'll see. If it's humanly possible for my body to heal and regenerate, it will.

"I haven't given myself a timetable. It could take a year. It could take six months. I don't know. Different doctors say different things. Some say, no problem, it'll be OK. Others say that particular injury, you'll be lucky to get 50% of the movement back.

"But if I get 85% back, I'll still be knocking people out, for sure."

Haye hasn't fought since the July 2012 stoppage against Dereck Chisora and pulled out of his last three fights due to injury, damaging his reputation as his career continued to be undermined by injury.

"If my shoulder gets back to 85% of what it used to be, that's more than enough," Haye added, who withdrew from a bout with Manuel Charr before cancelling two meetings with the unbeaten Fury either side of the New Year.

"I'll be happy with that. At the moment, I'm not that great. I can't really do to much with it. I can't run, for instance; the motion of running hurts my arm too much. But I'm not supposed to be running. It's not part of my rehab programme.

"It's all very basic movements, in and out, up and down. Because there was a lot of work done: six pins in my shoulder. My bicep snapped off.

"I had to withdraw from three fights in a row. And that's deemed inexcusable in the boxing world. Two pull-outs, that's it, you're finished. Three, nobody wants to see you ever again. I can understand that. If I were a boxing fan and I'd paid money to see someone. OK, they had an injury, it happens; it happens again and it's 'Come on, this is terrible.'

"And I can understand Tyson Fury's frustration. Anyone would feel that. I would if I were in his position, particularly when you train hard for a fight, and it's no fault of your own [that it's called off]."