Haye says he’ll fight Shannon Briggs

By Boxing News - 04/08/2016 - Comments

haye563By Scott Gilfoid: A very nervous and unsettled looking David Haye (27-2, 25 KOs) said earlier today that he’ll face 44-year-old American former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs (59-6-1, 52 KOs) later this year if Briggs agrees to fight on his undercard of his next fight on May 21 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. If Haye didn’t want to be bugged by Briggs, then he should have agreed to fight him on May 21 straightaway instead of digging up this unknown heavyweight named Arnold Gjergjaj.

This was a real blow it move on Haye’s part because the obviopus thing he had to do was take the challenge and face Briggs. I can see why he wasn’t eager to do that though, because there’s some actual risk involved in facing Briggs. That’s a fight that Haye could very well lose if Briggs lands one of his big power shots. Gjergjaj is little more than a slapper at best, and he has nowhere near the kind of power that Briggs has. If Haye gets nailed by Briggs, it could end his dreams of getting a big payday fight against Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury. Briggs has that kind of power where he separate Haye from his senses with a single blow.

Briggs and Haye got into a brief shouting match earlier on Friday at the Anthony Joshua vs. Charles Martin weigh. Briggs confronted Haye at the weigh-in, asking him for a fight. Haye then nervously agreed quickly to fight Briggs if he agrees to fight on his May 21 undercard.

Haye looked very upset by being confronted and being taunted by Briggs. It was funny to watch the way that Haye came unglued by the experience.

“I’m the champ. Look at him. He’s scared,” said Briggs.

“You’re going to get banged out. Fight on my undercard and then we’ll fight,” said Haye. “Trust me, you’re going to get banged out.”

“He’s scared, y’all, He’s scared. Your comeback is going to be cut short.

“Five rounds and you’re out,” said Haye.

“Everybody got to see for themselves a scared man,” said Briggs about Haye. “If he came up on me like that there would be static. I touched his hair and he didn’t do nothing. He was shook. Let’s good. If he had touched me, I would have knocked him out.”

YouTube video

Haye got all worked up into a lather simply because of the 6’4” Briggs got into his face at the weigh-in. I thought Haye was going to go to pieces mentally from Briggs talking trash to him point blank to his face. Haye didn’t handle that well at all I must say.

Even after Briggs was separated from him at a distance, Haye still couldn’t collect himself and get light-hearted about it. He really looked shaken up and emotional in a bad way. Haye didn’t look like he was going to throw blows. He looked more like some kid that was picked out and didn’t know how to defend himself verbally against a big bully. It was truly sad to see how he came apart like that.

“Yes, I think he’s talked himself into getting knocked out now,” said Haye via skysports.com about being confronted by Briggs. “The big moron Shannon Briggs – everywhere I go, this guy keeps chasing me around. He can fight on my undercard – if he can win, if he can pass the medical, if he can pass the brain scan, then I’ll knock him out afterwards. His manager called [on Thursday] and I said ‘fight on the undercard and I’ll fight you after’. He said he wants to do it. So he’ll get knocked out.”

Haye has a mismatch scheduled against some guy named Arnold Gjergjaj on May 21. I’ve never heard of him, and it’s downright embarrassing that Haye has stooped to this level to line up a soft job. You would think that he would at least find a bottom fringe contender to fight in order to get some cover to keep from being dumped on by boxing fans, but instead he’s picked out an unknown fighter with a padded record named Gjergjaj. I think it’s pretty clear that Haye needs Briggs on his undercard in the worst way if he wants to attract interest in his mismatch against Gjergjaj.



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