David Haye believes Dillian Whyte may need to change his mentality before his Nov. 21 rematch vs. Alexander Povetkin, if he wants to avoid the same fate.
Whyte dominated Povetkin for four rounds in their Matchroom Fight Camp clash in August before a fantastic uppercut out of nowhere scored the Russian veteran a surprising victory.
The Londoner immediately invoked his rematch clause, which he must win if he is to revive his hopes of challenging for a world heavyweight title in 2021, but former WBA champion Haye is concerned 'The Body Snatcher' will enter the second fight with the wrong mentality.
Haye told Sky Sports: "It's a very dangerous fight and it's a fight that I think Dillian doesn't want to accept that it was nothing other than a lucky punch.
"He thought, 'I was winning the fight', which he was, and 'I had him knocked down twice in the fourth round and I was winning the fifth round until I got hit by one shot and that was it'. Anything can happen in boxing, it happens in the heavyweight division.
"I don't think that's the mindset you need. You can't say, 'You won because it was an anomaly.' That left uppercut that he threw knocked out Carlos Takam, in a very even fight, in a very good toe-to-toe fight.
"It's a shot that he throws regularly. Dereck [Chisora, who the retired Haye now manages] was telling me when he sparred with him, he was getting hit with that shot, so it's one of his shots, and to get hit with someone's best shot isn't very lucky is it.
"The guy has got a big shot. It's like getting caught with Dillian Whyte's left hook. You know it's there if you can practice to go under it if you throw your right hook to the body or not, or you can stand up and get knocked out."
Nonetheless, Haye is confident Whyte will get his revenge on Povetkin, though he also cited another recent heavyweight example of why a defeated boxer needs to change and learn in order to get their win back.
"I think he'll win the rematch. I think he's too fresh," Haye continued. "He needs to make sure the issue that he had in that Povetkin fight doesn't happen again and he can prove that, the same way that AJ did against Andy Ruiz Jr.
"You can learn. He didn't have a deep wealth of amateur pedigree. He comes from a kickboxing background, a few amateur fights, and then he jumped straight into the pros and had to do it the hard way.
"He's a seasoned guy, but he doesn't have the technical pedigree that Anthony Joshua has - an Olympic gold medal. Povetkin is another Olympic gold medallist, so he needs to use his attributes - which is rough, tough, physical.
"He was trying to get too close and have a technical back and forth and I'm like, 'Why do you need to do that for?' Why don't you do what you do best and that's hit people with jabs and throw big, massive left hooks that knock people out?"
Haye's charge Chisora takes on Oleksandr Usyk on Oct. 31, while Whyte-Povetkin II lands on Nov. 21.