Haye’s late bid for Sports Personality of the Year

With a month to go before the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, the competition to see who will take over the crown from cycling knight Chris Hoy is hotting up. Boxer David Haye's 12-round victory against Nikolai Valuev at the weekend has catapulted him into third favourite position with the bookies, behind heptathlete Jessica Ennis and racing driver Jenson Button.

Haye is the motor-mouthed south Londoner whose bout on Saturday made him the WBA heavyweight championship of the world. He’s at 4/1 with William Hill, but the fact that his moment in the spotlight came so late in the year could give him added momentum. It means his name will be fresher in the minds of the voting public.

Button is still the runaway favourite at 8/13, but he wrapped up his F1 drivers' championship in mid-October, and the Grand Prix season is now over.

In the case of 23-year-old Ennis, it will be almost four months since she stormed to victory in the heptathlon at the World Championships in Berlin by the time the awards ceremony comes round on December 13.

The other unlucky frontrunner is England cricket captain Andrew Strauss, in fourth place according to the bookies. The Ashes win against Australia was sealed on August 20, and although Strauss and his team will be in action in South Africa in the weeks running up to the event, even a spectacular run of form in the one-day internationals there is unlikely to propel him into the winning position. England, though, are probably bolted-on favourites to win the team of the year gong for their Ashes heroics.

A shortlist of ten sportsmen and women will be announced live on BBC One on Monday, November 30; there will then be ten days of broadcasts recalling the achievements of each, before the public's decision is announced at the Sheffield Arena during the live show on December 13.

Button is bidding to be the first Formula 1 driver since Damon Hill in 1996 to win the trophy. Ennis would be the first athlete since Kelly Holmes (2004). The last boxer to win was Joe Calzaghe in 2007.