By Scott Gilfoid: Shannon Briggs (59-6-1, 52 KOs) was telling the truth when he said he was coming over to London, England this week to hunt for David Haye. Briggs arrived in London on Tuesday, and immediately let the media know that he’s hunting for Haye, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua while he’s over there.
The 44-year-old Briggs wants to line up a big money fight against one of those fighters. You can’t say that Briggs isn’t ranked high enough to fight them, as the WBA has him ranked at #4 right now, and he’s a stone throw away from getting a #1 spot.
Briggs would likely be satisfied with a fight against Haye if he can get. Haye is looking for an opponent for his May 21st fight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Briggs and Malik Scott are two of the names that Haye is considering for the fight.
Haye spoke this past week about wanting to fight for a world title against WBA heavyweight champion Lucas Browne. However, Browne quickly responded on Twitter, saying he’s not interested in fighting Haye, and that he has a fight against Fres Oquendo next.
“I’ve come to take over, to meet the people, to get out there and shake hands, kiss babies, walk old ladies across the street,” Briggs said to skysports.com. “I’m looking for Haye. I’m looking for Fury, I’m looking for Joshua, I’m looking for everybody.”
Well, I don’t think it’ll matter much even if Briggs finds Haye, Joshua and Fury. Those guys aren’t about to fight him. Haye might fight him, but I doubt it. Joshua has a fight against Charles Martin on April 9, and he’s made it clear that he would like to fight Fury if he wins the fight. Joshua also is interested in fighting Haye or possibly even Deontay Wilder.
Fury listed his top three fights. He’ll be fighting Wladimir Klitschko next, and then possibly the winner of the Martin-Joshua fight, or Deontay. As such, that leaves Briggs out in the cold. The only fight I can see Briggs getting is against Haye, and the only way I see that fight taking place is if Haye elects to fight him on May 21st in his next fight.
“I’m looking for him right now, I’ve been everywhere. I’ve been everywhere looking for him,” said Briggs. “Whoever the British people want me to fight. The people of the United Kingdom, whoever they want me to fight. Fury, Joshua, Haye, those are the big names, I’m here for the big boys.”
One good thing that can come out of Briggs’ trip to the UK is that he could gain enough attention to become a media attraction. This will help pave the way for an eventual fight against the likes of Joshua, Haye or Fury. To be sure, Briggs could help his own cause greatly if he stopped fighting the lower level 3rd tier opposition he’s been exclusively facing since he made his comeback in 2014, and instead fought at least fringe contenders. I mean, look at what Haye did in his comeback fight last January. He scouted out the perfect soft job in Mark De Mori, a fighter ranked by the WBA #9. Haye then blasted De Mori out in one round, and received a lot of attention from it by the British boxing public. Why can’t Briggs do that? There’s plenty of bottom ranked contenders that he would likely blast to oblivion if he would just go after one of them the way Haye did.
“I bought a one-way ticket, I’m not leaving. I might just stay here for a couple of years and just knock out people,” said Briggs.
Briggs is going to need to fight soon, because he’s been sitting outside of the ring for a long, long time. It’s not a good idea for a 44-year-old Briggs to be inactive the way he is. I guess he’s just waiting and hoping that he can get a big money fights against one of the big three British heavyweights.
It would be incredible if Briggs gets the likes of Haye, Fury or Joshua to fight him, because he seems to really want to fight them for some reason. Briggs should focus on getting fights against some of the American heavyweights, because I think he would have no problems getting one of them to face him.
Haye will likely choose a weaker puncher than Briggs for his May 21st fight, because he’s not going to want to blow his chance at a big cash out fight against Joshua. Briggs can still pop with his punches, and he would have a decent chance of knocking Haye out. As such, Briggs won’t get the fight against Haye in my opinion.
I see Haye being extra careful in selecting just the right opponent that will make him look good and allow him to score another quick 1st round knockout. In other words, I see Haye doing exactly what Briggs has been doing by selecting only the most vulnerable opponents for him to shine against.
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