Haye looking forward to facing Joshua in two to three fights

By Boxing News - 04/14/2016 - Comments

haye1111By Allan Fox: David Haye (27-2, 25 KOs) is quite pleased that IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is taking about having Joshua face Haye next year after Joshua faces IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury later this year if Fury gets past Wladimir Klitschko on July 9 in their rematch.

Haye sees the Joshua fight only two to three fights away, and he’s very much looking forward to that fight. Haye is locked out of a big money fight against Fury because he doesn’t want any part of fighting him after Haye broken down twice in two separate training camps that wiped out fights between them.

Haye can’t get ahead of himself in looking past his next two fights because he’s facing two consecutive tall fighters in 6’5” Arnold Gjergjaj next on May 21, and then the 6’4” Shannon Briggs after that. Those are both winnable fights for Haye, but you never know. Haye is a small heavyweight who is little more than a pumped up cruiserweight.

There’s a difference between naturally big heavyweights and fighters that bulked up to fight in a heavier weight class. Haye might find it tough to take the heavy shots from Briggs and Gjergjaj. If Haye loses to either of those guys, then he can forget about a fight against Joshua next year. The last thing Hearn wants to do is look like combing the beaten ranks to find opponents for the 6’6” Joshua. Hearn is supposed to be finding quality contenders that are winning their fights instead of losing them. That’s why it’s important that Haye not get beaten in his next two fights.

“Eddie Hearn is quite bang on. He’s talking quite possibly next year and looking at the time frame, I’ve got two fights signed up – this May 21st fight, and then a fight later on in the year with Shannon Briggs,” said Haye to skysports.com. “There has been big talk of Anthony Joshua having two defences and then looking at that big year of unification or a mega fight.”

Haye wants the Joshua fight so badly that he can taste it. You have to wonder whether Haye wants the fight for the wrong reasons. If he wants the fight because he honestly believes that he can beat Joshua, then that’s one thing. But if Haye is just looking to face Joshua so he can get a monstrous payday and then disappear like he did shortly after his fight against Wladimir Klitschko in 2011, then it would be sad.

It would send the wrong message to other fighters and to fans of the sport. They like to see their fighters continuing to fight on after they fight in a big mega-fight. Too many fighters disappear from the sport or lose interest in competing after they get big paydays. For Haye, it would be better for him to continue fighting so that he can maximize his income with the time he’s got left because he’s already lost huge portions of his career in the last seven years by not staying active for one reason or another.

“He’s got a bit of business to take care of. On my side, I’ve got two fights to take care of. On his side, he’s got two fights to take care of,” said Haye about Joshua. “If we both win our next two fights then I see possibly – two or three fights down the line – we could clash in what could be the biggest all-British fight of all time.”

YouTube video

It’s too bad that Haye isn’t willing to fight better fighters than the 44-year-old Briggs and Gjergjaj to get to the big payday fight against Joshua. Haye should at least earn the fight against Joshua because the level of opposition he’ll be fighting in his next two fights aren’t true world class guys. Haye should look to fight someone like Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz, Bryant Jennings, Carlos Takam or Joseph Parker.

If Haye could beat two of those fighters, then it would make sense that he gets a chance to fight for a world title against Joshua. It would also make for a bigger fight between them because the fans would believe that Haye is for real rather than some guy that has padded his record against the unranked Gjergjaj and the 44-year-old Briggs.

With the way that Haye is going soft with his comeback, it looks like he just came back to try and get a cash out fight before disappearing again into the woodwork.



Comments are closed.