Haye - 4/1 to hold all the belts by the end of 2011.

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Bookies were toasting David Haye after he foiled a huge gamble by beating Nikolai Valuev to become the new WBA heavyweight champion.

Haye became Britain's first heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis retired in 2003 with a points victory over the 7ft 2in Valuev in Nuremberg.

All the money in the 48 hours before the fight had been for Valuev and bet365 spokesman Steve Freeth explained: "Valuev opened at 7/4 and went off at even money - it was one-way traffic all week and Haye has saved us a right few quid.

"People saw the difference in size, couldn't believe that Haye was favourite and backed the Russian accordingly - it was nearly 'pick em' before the first bell."

It was a similar story at Hills whose spokesman Graham Sharpe said: "We have made a hefty six-figure profit from the fight, on which we believe up to £5m was gambled industry wide.

"By and large, all the big money bets were for Valuev on fight night as the patriotic support for Haye dried up dramatically."

The 29-year-old Haye now faces a mandatory defence against John Ruiz and has then set his sights on WBC champ Vitali Klitschko.

"Let's bring it on and make it happen. I have got to get John Ruiz out of the way and then we can get a mega showdown next year," Haye told Sportsweek on BBC Radio Five Live.

Klitschko claimed he would fight Haye "at any time and knock him out" and the bookies make Klitschko their clear favourite, with Hills offering 1/2 while Haye would be the 6/4 underdog.

However Haye is expected to beat Ruiz before then, with Hills making him 8/15 for that fight while it's 4/1 he holds all four major titles - WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF - by the end of 2011.

Haye has also vaulted into the equation for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. Having been 50/1 a few weeks ago, he's now 4/1 third best with Hills and 11/2 with bet365.

"He can rest assured that he'll be getting our vote!" added bet365's Freeth.