By Scott Gilfoid: #6 WBA, #8 WBC, #11 IBF heavyweight contender David Haye (27-2, 25 KOs) will be facing little known unbeaten #14 WBO Arnold Gjergjaj (29-0, 21 KOs) next Saturday night on May 21st at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
This is the fight that will set the 35-year-old Haye up for a possible bout against 44-year-old former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs (59-6-1, 52 KOs) for the summer. Briggs is fighting on the Haye vs. Gjergjaj card against an opponent still to be determined.
Alexander Dimitrenko had been mentioned recently as a possible opponent for Briggs but that fight doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Whoever Briggs fights, it’s going to be someone brought in at the last minute and it’ll likely be someone he can flatten easily to earn the fight against Haye.
This is Haye’s second fight of his comeback in his battle against the 31-year-old Gjergjaj. Earlier this year, Haye steamrolled over fringe contender Mark De Mori in stopping him in the 1st round last January. It wasn’t a fight at all because De Mori looked like someone who had no clue in how to fight.
It was all Haye in getting a quick stoppage win. That fight was an embarrassment to watch because it was such a terrible mismatch. It wasn’t that Haye looked great. It was more of a case of De Mori simply being very, very bad that made Haye look so good in comparison.
Haye wants to get a quick world title shot against IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Some boxing fans wonder why Haye wants the title shot against Joshua so fast. The thought is that Haye wants to get a quick payday for a lot of money before disappearing for another four years. Before Haye took the mismatch against De Mori, he’d been out of the ring for four years from 2012 to 2016.
Haye has had other long inactive periods in his career. He was out of the ring for a year from his loss to Wladimir Klitschko in July 2011 to his fight against Dereck Chisora in July 2012. Haye also missed a year of his career from his win over Monte Barrett in November 2008 to his win over Nikolay Valuev in November 2009.
All total, Haye has missed six years of his career from 2008 to 2016. In other words, Haye has only fought two years in the last eight years of his career. He’s been a part time fighter during the last years. That’s why it’s so hard for me to take him seriously as a fighter in wanting to get a title shot against Joshua.
Yeah, I think Haye will get that fight sooner or later after he beats a few more stiffs, but I don’t see him winning. I think he’ll lose the fight and disappear from one to four years depending on how big his payday is. If Haye makes a huge bundle against Joshua, then I see him never coming back. But with the rush that Haye seems to be in for the Joshua fight, I can’t see the fight making the kind of money it would if Haye took his time to build it up right.
Gjergjaj has recent wins over Marino Goles, Denis Bakhtov, Zoltan Csala and Adnan Redzovic. Those are not hold-hold names, and unfortunately, Gjergjaj’s entire resume is filled with similar little known fighters. As such, it’s hard to take him serious as a threat to beating even this rusty version of Haye.
Also on the Haye-Gjergjaj card is middleweight Joe Mullender fighting Lee Markham.