By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye (27-2, 25 KOs) will be fighting 31-year-old Arnold Gjergjaj (29-0, 21 KOs) in what amounts to be a showcase fight this Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, UK. The 31-year-old Gjergjaj has been moved up to the #14 spot by the World Boxing Organization since Haye hand-picked him as his opponent for his next bout, but this is clearly a mismatch in favor of the 35-year-old Haye.
Haye wants to get ready for his bigger fight against Shannon Briggs (59-6-1, 52 KOs) later this year. That fight is little more than a name for Haye to utilize to create more public demand in a fight between him and IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in the near future, perhaps in 2017.
I honestly don’t know how much more demand you can get for a fight between Haye and Joshua with the “Hayemaker” using fodder opposition like Briggs and Gjergjaj to create interest in that fight. I mean, I think Haye is going about it the wrong way to get fans eager to see him fight Joshua.
I do think Haye will be successful in winning all of his fights until he gets the payday match against Joshua, but I don’t see those fights improving him any or attracting a lot of interest. Let’s be honest; the only way Haye makes a fight against Joshua a monster of a fight is if he takes the scalp of one of the talented heavyweights like dare I say Deontay Wilder, or some of the other solid fighters in the division like Luis Ortiz, Kubrat Pulev, Joseph Parker or Carlos Takam. I’m not holding my breath waiting for Haye to fight any of those guys, believe me. If there was a line to get to one of those guys, I would suspect that Haye would be at the back of it if in the line at all.
“I think my opponents are the right standard,” Haye said to ESPN.com. “I’ve only had one round in the ring in four years so the next guy is unbeaten, young, big at 6 feet, 5 inches and has long arms. He’s not fought any big names but that doesn’t mean he would have beaten a big name. I don’t really like to listen to the naysayers. I’m fighting an unbeaten guy, he’s confident and it’s perfect preparation and then i will look to a big fight with Shannon Briggs in September.”
I agree with Haye. Fighting the overmatched fringe contender Gjergjaj probably is the perfect preparation for a fight against the 44-year-old Briggs, but that’s not saying much, is it? I mean, when you’re aiming low like Haye is in terms of opposition, it’s not going to be hard for him to find someone that gets him ready for Briggs. We’re not exactly talking about the crème de la crème of the heavyweight division, are we?
If Haye really wanted to shake some people up, he’d skip the fight against Briggs altogether and instead face Deontay, Pulev, Parker, Takam or Luis Ortiz. If Haye could whip one or more of those guys, he’d start building up some REAL interest in a fight between him and the 26-year-old Joshua. But I think Haye is going about it the wrong way to get fans excited about him fighting Joshua. He’s got the cart before the horse with the way he’s trying to get fans eager to see him fight the 6’6” Joshua.
Fighting Gjergjaj only is a good match to build interest in another mismatch against Briggs, but neither of these fights are any good to get fans in interested in seeing him fight Joshua in my view. Of course, I think I know what fights the wants to see, and I don’t think it’s mismatches involving Haye fighting the old timer Briggs or the little known Gjergjaj.
“Briggs is the biggest non-title fight out there. I want to give the public response to him, which is to shut this idiot up. If you ask British boxing fans to name a heavyweight other than the champions and me, it will be Shannon Briggs,” said Haye.
Oh brother, now I’ve heard everything. Briggs is not the biggest non-title fight out there. Haye is just flapping his gums at this point because there are plenty of bigger names for him to fight instead of the past his best Briggs.