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Shannon Briggs: I weighed 400lbs and wanted to jump off a bridge - now I'm going to fight David Haye
Heavyweights David Haye and Shannon Briggs will hold talks on Monday over a showdown in September, having both completed routine victories on Saturday night at the 02 Arena against out-classed opponents.
In an underwhelming finale at the 02, Haye recorded a 28th career KO with a right-hand, left jab combination and a flurry of punches which put paid to Kosovan war refugee Arnold Gjergjaj inside two rounds.
Motormouth Briggs put away Argentine Emilio Zarate within a round, targeting his body with heavy right hands.
There is little doubt that Haye, ranked No 6 by the World Boxing Association and who on Saturday stopped Gjergjaj in the second fight of a comeback that began in January after a three-and-a-half year absence through injury, considers Briggs, the No 7-ranked WBA heavyweight, a character who appeals to the casual fight fan and provides minimal threat to his hopes of challenging Anthony Joshua, which the London heavyweight believes may be a year away.
"He's a former heavyweight champion, a bit old, but he can fight a bit. He punches hard so let's get it on in September. We'll sit down this week and thrash it out," said Haye.
Briggs, for all his noise and self-hype, brings a remarkable story of his own to the table: it is 10 years since the veteran American boxer last won a world title, and six years ago when the Brooklynite suffered a 12-round drubbing at the hands of WBC champion Vitali Klitschko in a fight which should have been mercifully stopped much, much sooner.
"I suffered a broken arm in the first round, tore tendons and ligaments, but fought him for 10 rounds with one arm, and I didn't even get a dime for it," recalled Briggs, who revealed after Saturday night's fight that four years ago, in the wake of that brutal beating from Klitschko, he had been deeply depressed and close to suicide. Then weighing 400lbs, he had considered jumping off a bridge and taking his own life.
"I truly, truly suffered depression, to the deep core. I was 400lbs in weight: it was to a point where I was so fat I couldn't even tie my shoes. That was about four or five years ago, after the Klitschko fight," explained Briggs. "I was down and out, I was depressed, I was really feeling bad about myself.
"I was really going through a lot of things, my mum died on my birthday, my dad died in prison, I had a rough life growing up, I wasn't able to get an education. I was homeless since I was 13 years old and four years ago I contemplated jumping off a bridge a few times. Then I had my daughter - she's four years old now - and it was looking into her eyes, her beautiful face, it told me I had to live, I had to come back and make something of myself and my baby girl. It's an unbelievable feeling."
Briggs has fought nine times since April 2014 and against Haye will receive the lucrative payday other leading heavyweights have denied him. "Here I am today, thousands of fans are saying 'Let's go, champ'. I'm looking forward to knocking David Haye out, beating him in his own town," he said.
Haye, meanwhile, sees Briggs as "the next biggest name out there outside the three champions Joshua, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder", but the British heavyweight may have to consider his next opponent carefully.
"I'm not taking my eyes off Briggs, because he's a big lump, he knows his way around a ring, and he'll be very dangerous for three or four rounds. If he lands, he can knock you out."
In New Zealand, another important heavyweight contest took place over the weekend, home favourite Joe Parker defeating Carlos Takam to become the mandatory challenger to Joshua's International Boxing Federation title. Parker, 24, out-pointed Takam 116-112, 116-112, 115-113 on the scorecards, and could face Joshua early in 2017.