diff --git a/include/haproxy/cfgparse.h b/include/haproxy/cfgparse.h
index a1476fad6..186ecf75b 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/cfgparse.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/cfgparse.h
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ extern int cfg_maxconn;
 extern char *cfg_scope;
 extern struct cfg_kw_list cfg_keywords;
 extern char *cursection;
-extern struct proxy defproxy;
 
 int cfg_parse_global(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int inv);
 int cfg_parse_listen(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int inv);
diff --git a/src/cfgparse-listen.c b/src/cfgparse-listen.c
index edcc04138..ffe793156 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse-listen.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse-listen.c
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@
 #include <haproxy/tcpcheck.h>
 #include <haproxy/uri_auth.h>
 
+
+static struct proxy defproxy; /* fake proxy used to assign default values on all instances */
+
 /* Report a warning if a rule is placed after a 'tcp-request session' rule.
  * Return 1 if the warning has been emitted, otherwise 0.
  */
@@ -177,6 +180,12 @@ int cfg_parse_listen(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int kwm)
 	char *errmsg = NULL;
 	struct bind_conf *bind_conf;
 
+	if (defproxy.obj_type != OBJ_TYPE_PROXY) {
+		/* defproxy not initialized yet */
+		init_new_proxy(&defproxy);
+		proxy_preset_defaults(&defproxy);
+	}
+
 	if (strcmp(args[0], "listen") == 0)
 		rc = PR_CAP_LISTEN;
 	else if (strcmp(args[0], "frontend") == 0)
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index 9f76878f0..0ddbab000 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@ struct list sections = LIST_HEAD_INIT(sections);
 struct list postparsers = LIST_HEAD_INIT(postparsers);
 
 char *cursection = NULL;
-struct proxy defproxy = { };		/* fake proxy used to assign default values on all instances */
 int cfg_maxpconn = 0;                   /* # of simultaneous connections per proxy (-N) */
 int cfg_maxconn = 0;			/* # of simultaneous connections, (-n) */
 char *cfg_scope = NULL;                 /* the current scope during the configuration parsing */
diff --git a/src/haproxy.c b/src/haproxy.c
index 1bac1c51f..69ddb9035 100644
--- a/src/haproxy.c
+++ b/src/haproxy.c
@@ -1822,9 +1822,6 @@ static void init(int argc, char **argv)
 
 	global.maxsock = 10; /* reserve 10 fds ; will be incremented by socket eaters */
 
-	init_new_proxy(&defproxy);
-	proxy_preset_defaults(&defproxy);
-
 	/* in wait mode, we don't try to read the configuration files */
 	if (!(global.mode & MODE_MWORKER_WAIT)) {
 		char *env_cfgfiles = NULL;