It was officially confirmed at today’s press conference in London that Shannon Briggs will no longer be fighting Alexander Dimitrenko on Saturday night’s David Haye-Arnold Gjergjaj card at The O2. Fans raised eyebrows when it was announced how 44-year-old Briggs would box Dimitrenko – by far the most dangerous opponent so far in Briggs’ now 8-fight comeback – as a “warm up” for his agreed next fight with Haye (providing the two win on Saturday).
So who must Briggs now defeat in order to satisfy Haye that he can still fight and is worthy of that pencilled in September date with him? With just four days to go until the card in London, the search for a decent opponent for Briggs must be a quite frantic one. Dimitrenko was a great choice (maybe a little too dangerous for Briggs, although Briggs said today that he had “a tougher opponent than Haye” and that he “took it hands down”) but it seems we can forget about Briggs getting an opponent of equal quality with such little time to spare.
According to Fightnews.com, the name Jakov Gospic of Croatia, with a record of 17-14(12) has been mentioned as a possible Briggs foe. A big step down from Dimitrenko, the 33-year-old from Zadar is a smallish heavyweight at 6’1” and he has been stopped or knocked out a total of eight times. Gospic has boxed in the UK before – being stopped by Matt Skelton in 2012, by Gary Cornish the following year and by Dereck Chisora in December of last year – and he is at least coming off a win; out-pointing a 0-1 guy back in March of this year.
As a very late-notice opponent, we can’t moan and groan too much about Gospic, but fans who bought a ticket to Saturday’s show largely due to the way they felt Briggs-Dimitrenko would add some value to the perceived mismatch between Haye and Gjergjaj, might not be too happy. Going by his record and the fact that he might not be in anything approaching top fighting shape, Gospic looks like being Briggs’ next 1st-round KO victim.
Would such a KO from Briggs add any selling power to that date with Haye?