Briggs Wants Haye out of Retirement

David Haye called it a career last May, when he was defeated by Tony Bellew, now former world heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs wants the 38-year old back in the ring.

“David let me down, David let the fans down, he went and fought Bellew,” Briggs exclusively told Starsport. “But my gut feeling tells me that David Haye’s coming back. My gut feeling tells me that David’s coming back for me.

Briggs, who is over a decade older than Haye, has relocated to England to work on gaining a license to fight in the United Kingdom, and has decided to call out Haye.  “I know it’s gonna happen. I feel it in my gut that he’ll come back because I’m walking around England and he’s hearing about it,” Briggs said.

“I’m calling you back, David. I’m calling you out. You’ve got it in you, come on. One more. Let’s go champ.

“I’d smash him up. I’d smash him up nicely. He was scared. He was scared that I’d break him into a thousand pieces. You see what happened when he fought Bellew, his leg broke. I would have broken his neck! His neck would have been hanging off!

Briggs, who is currently 47, believes that while Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua hold the recognized world heavyweight titles, he is the true people’s champion.

“You could be heavyweight champion of the world, you could be [Anthony] Joshua and have all the belts in the world right now. [Deontay] Wilder, [Tyson] Fury, they’re not me,” he said.

“To me, I’m the champ. I’m the people’s champ. They got the belts, but I’m the people’s champ. They got the lineal belt, the WBC, the IBF – but I’m the people’s champ. And that’s what’s making me happier than if I ever win the title.

“I’m gonna go to the British Board of Boxing commissions and do what I gotta do, beg and plead for a license.

Briggs current plan is to spend 2019 shaking off the “ring rust,” and then fight a top opponent such as Haye or Haye’s client, Dereck Chisora.

“I think a big fight for me over here would be Chisora. That would be a huge step-up fight for me once I got the ring rust off me,” he said.

“I’ll put a beating on him. A beating! Like he stole something from me.”

Initial Report: The Daily Star