David Haye has been forced to pull out of his heavyweight bout with Manuel Charr next month after suffering a hand injury in training.

Haye was set to fight for the first time since stopping fellow Briton Dereck Chisora inside five rounds in their controversial bout at Upton Park last July against former world title challenger Charr at the Manchester Arena on June 29.

But after injuring his left hand on Sunday evening, the 32-year-old announced the contest has been postponed and it is not yet clear whether the bout will be re-arranged.

"I'm absolutely gutted to have to pull out of this fight on June 29," said the former WBA heavyweight champion.

"I pick up injuries now and again in training, and sometimes carry them into fights, but this was one I simply couldn't recover from in time. I need to rest it up for at least four weeks.

"I apologise to Manuel Charr and to everybody involved with the promotion. But most of all I want to say sorry to the thousands of fans who bought tickets to the fight. I felt it was important to let them know about the cancellation as soon as possible, so they can now make other plans.

"As soon as I am told I can resume full training, my loyal fans will be the first to know."

Haye was looking to use the fight with 28-year-old Lebanon-born Charr, whose only defeat of his professional career came when he was controversially stopped because of a cut to his right eye in the fourth round by WBC champion Vitali Klitschko last year, as a springboard to higher profile bouts.

The former unified cruiserweight champion has made little secret of wanting to challenge for world honours in the heavyweight division once more, with Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko holding all the recognised titles.

However, this injury puts Haye's hopes on hold.

He pulled out of a scheduled bout with Wladimir Klitschko with a back complaint in 2009 and while they faced off two years later, Haye famously cited a toe injury as one of the reasons for a disappointing performance as the Ukrainian cruised to a unanimous decision win at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg.