Shannon Briggs: We know and I know David Haye is afraid of me

By James Slater - 10/26/2016 - Comments

Shannon “Let’s go, champ” Briggs is still talking about David Haye, although the 44-year-old appears to have lost hope of meeting him in the ring. For any fans that are still interested, Haye verbally agreed to fight Briggs if the former champ was able to get a license to box in the UK and then take a fight and win it on his May under-card. Briggs passed both tests, yet the fight never materialized.

Haye said this is because Briggs will only fight him on pay-per-view and that at present no such platform exists for the non-title fight right (and likely never will exist) but Briggs is having none of it, claiming Haye used his name to generate publicity and is now “afraid” and has “backed out” of the fight.

“David backed out. He’s not a man of his word,” Briggs told Sky Sports. “It boils down to him basically being an opportunist. I’ve caused a lot of commotion and a lot of people are now paying attention to him, who weren’t paying attention to him before. No one was interested in David Haye. We know and I know personally that David is afraid of me.”

Of course, Haye – who says his number-one goal right now is to land a fight with Anthony Joshua – laughs at the notion he is afraid of the veteran puncher. Still, if it’s not Briggs next for Haye, then who will it be? We are still waiting for Haye to announce his December 10 opponent (if that date is still a go for the former WBA champ who recently turned 36). Is Haye about to announce how he has a massive fight nobody saw coming? If not, then what are Haye’s plans?

As for Briggs, now that he is seemingly out of the Haye fight, who else might the Brooklyn man fight? Who else might the 44-year-old (45 in December) go after harass and try to entice into fighting him? Briggs is fun, he has a puncher’s chance against pretty much any heavyweight, and it is hoped he can land a decent fight with someone soon. Briggs against David Price would be a fascinating fight, as would Briggs against Dillian Whyte.

But can these fights be made? Briggs will possibly become irrelevant (again) if he doesn’t get himself a fight soon.