A former heavyweight champion has called out British fighter David Haye and promised to ‘flatline’ him.
A British boxing great, Haye held multiple world titles in his career and has been retired since back-to-back losses to Tony Bellew in 2017. He is one of the few men to have had championship success in both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
In the years since, he has helped train Derek Chisora, did his fair share of punditry and had one exhibition fight against his friend and businessman, Joe Fournier, whilst making plenty of bold predictions for big fights.
Shannon Briggs might be best known for his pursuit of a fight with Wladimir Klitschko in which his catchphrase ‘let’s go, champ’ was born. Years before he lost to Wladimir’s brother, Vitali, as well as Lennox Lewis, but has big wins on his ledger against the likes of George Foreman.
Speaking to FightHype, Briggs revived a rivalry that started back in 2016 when the American confronted Haye at a press conference demanding the pair fight.
“Shanon Briggs versus David Haye. That’s the fight. Make that fight. I knock him out, I knock him out.”
He then sat back and mimed being knocked out while making the noise of a flatlining heart rate monitor.
“Beep, beep, beep. I like him but I don’t like him. In the history of boxing, he one of the hardest-hitting men in all of boxing.”
It was suggested that Briggs himself was a big hitter.
“Nah with me, I fought the right guys. The thing with me was I was a fast starter. I have asthma so I can’t go all them rounds. I learned over the years to get in the conditions to go 10 or 12 rounds, but that was never my forte.”
As far as fantasy fights go, it’s an interesting prospect that would have a sizzling build up given the outgoing characters of each man. When it comes to inside the ropes, it would be highly unlikely to go late.