David Haye and Tony Bellew were treated to a surprise visit from The Inbetweeners star James Buckley at a press conference ahead of their fight this weekend.
Buckley, who played Jay in the popular sitcom, interrupted Bellew at the media event on Thursday and told him to pick on someone his own size, leaving both fighters laughing.
His surprise appearance came after Bellew had compared Haye’s manager, Adam Morallee, to Inbetweeners character Will at an earlier press event.
Buckley handed Morallee a suitcase and a pair of glasses to complete the look before telling Bellew: “He’s a mate of mine, he’s a little fella, a bit of respect eh.
“If you want to pick on someone your own size, by all means stand up.”
Bellew replied: “You look too big for me mate,” adding: “That threw me off. I don’t know what much else to say … I don’t know how many tickets you’ve gave him David but f****** hell, that was a good one.”
Former WBA heavyweight champion Haye is under pressure to revive his career at London’s O2 Arena and recognises unless he avenges last March’s defeat to Bellew, he will never fight again.
He ruptured his Achilles during that 11th-round defeat and a bicep injury then forced him to postpone Saturday’s fight from December. Before the first of those he had also fought less than eight rounds since 2012.
Bellew, 35, is also widely considered the more durable of the two fighters but Haye, who had previously regularly succeeded in getting into his opponents’ minds, is adamant he will do the opposite to what so many expect.