At the O2 Arena, London, David Haye made easy work of another overmatched foe in Arnold Gjergjaj, demolishing the visitor in two violent, one-sided rounds. Gjergjaj tasted the canvas almost immediately, with a monster right hand from Haye doing the damage. To Gjergjaj’s credit, he managed to beat the count and do some adjusting of sorts to see out the round and stave off Haye’s assaults.
But things got a whole lot worse for Gjergjaj in the 2nd. Haye dropped Gjergjaj with a jab, which, in all honesty, seemed to deck Gjergjaj a bit too easily. At this point, it seemed likely that reality had set in for Gjergjaj and that he was looking for a way out of this nightmare. It came as a good pay-day against a mainstream fighter like Haye, I’m sure, but Gjergjaj was many leagues below his former champ foe tonight.
Gjergjaj kept on the backfoot with his guard high, but wilted under the sheer firepower of Haye, who pounded away at Gjergjaj’s gloves before sending his man down for the final time. Gjergjaj beat the count and seemed to have his senses intact, but silently motioned to the referee that he’d had more than enough.
After the Haye vs Gjergjaj beat down was over, the Hayemaker confirmed his intentions to face Shannon Briggs (below) in September, adding his “let’s go, chump” slogan to the ongoing pantomime. That matchup is hardly a doozy for Heavyweight fans, but, I don’t know, if Haye can fill the O2 Arena with high reward-low risk fights like this, then…I guess they’re going to happen.
Haye now improves to 28 wins, 2 defeats, 26 knockouts, while Gjergjaj returns to his adopted Switzerland with 29 wins, 1 defeat, 21 knockouts.
Undercard: Briggs vs Zarate
I almost don’t want to comment on this co-main event cos’ the whole Haye vs Briggs future collision course scenario seriously gets my back up. It’s a bad matchup, and bad for British boxing. In fact, the sport as a whole. 44-year-old Shannon Briggs wiped the floor with 4-day-notice opponent Emilio Ezequiel Zarate in the opening round. Briggs threw furious bombs from the opening bell, overwhelming the smaller Zarate, dropping him twice courtesy of body shots, with the final one keeping Zarate on the canvas for the count.
Did Briggs impress? Is he going to whip David Haye in his next outing? Yeah, sure. Why not? Let’s go, champ…or something. Briggs now improves to 60 wins, 6 defeats, 1 draw, 53 knockouts, while journeyman Emilio Ezequiel Zarate falls to 20 wins, 17 defeats, 3 draws, 11 knockouts.
Give us your take on Haye vs Gjergjaj and Briggs vs Zarate in the comments, plus the rest of the London card.
