Nick Blackwell heaped praise on David Haye, after the former heavyweight champion donated almost £100,000 to help towards Blackwell’s retirement.

Blackwell will never fight again after suffering a bleed to the brain during a brutal contest against Chris Eubank Jnr in March.

The 25-year-old collapsed after the fight and had to be placed into an induced coma. During this time, Haye donated 10 per cent of ticket sales from his May fight with Arnold Gjergjaj.

Haye repeated the gesture in the week before the second victory of his comeback last month, hoping that he would be able to offer Blackwell “a minimum of £50,000.”

However, it has since emerged that the figure is double that, more than Blackwell had earned for any fight except the Eubank Jnr clash.

Blackwell also revealed how helpful Haye has been in trying to help the young Brit forge a career outside the ring.

“It’s amazing, he’s been so good to me,” he said.

“I didn’t know him before at all but he’s texting me every other day, seeing how I am. He even ‘Facetimed’ me from Miami.

“I didn’t know him but I did some work in his gym — when he wasn’t there — with George Groves and Shane (McGuigan, Haye’s trainer).

“I’m so lucky, it’s given me a real start and I’m really grateful to him.

“It’s more than I got paid for any fight except the last one, against Eubank.

“He’s also spoken to me about commentary and me working as a commentator on his next fight. He’s offered to help me find investments, looked into help-to-buy (schemes) and that, and recommended mortgage advisers.

“I didn’t know anything about what he’d been saying until people told me when I woke up.

“But the whole thing has surprised me, partly because of what I’d heard from (promoter) Mick Hennessy about when he pulled out of his fights with Tyson Fury.”