Comments Thread For: Shannon Briggs Open Letter To Challenge David Haye

[paul750]

Well, Briggs is the one who brings up Haye as a topic in the letter posted here, so it's natural that Haye is part of the conversation. You're over-reaching with that remark. Briggs's, "hey brother, we don't need those white boys, we can stage our own manly great fight" theme is obtuse to the extreme. Briggs versus Haye would be nothing different than Haye versus Valuev, with Davey running around trying not to get hit by the big guy, and Briggs running out of gas trying to chase him around. Exciting? Heh heh.

You can't honestly compare Briggs to Valuev. I know briggs has been rubbish the past few years and bulked up far too much, but his hand speed even at 270 is still far better than the giant's.

[ChopperRead]

I haven't heard anything from Briggs to indicate his dislike for the Klitschkos is race related. Can you provide any proof of this? If that is the case then it's obviously not acceptable, but Briggs usually comes across as a rather decent chap who talks to fans and what have you. There are racists out there from all sections of society, but it's worth remembering that most of the dislike/disinterest for the Klitschkos simply comes from people who find them a bit boring and lacking personality.

Simply stating that all of this is race related is silly really. It just boils down to them not being very exciting. Any other reasons for dislike or disinterest of them would be in the small minority category.

Myself and many others have encountered Briggs on the "Boxing from the East" chat boards (and yes, it is Briggs, not someone pretending to be him) and he has often said that "HBO wants white boys like the Klitschkos as champions" (which is absolute bull****) and called Wlad a *******ual, among other things. And I'm not sure how your criticism of the Klitschkos not being "exciting" really holds up. How "exciting" have David Haye's fights at heavyweight been? How "exciting" were Briggs's fights against Ibragimov and Liakhovich? (maybe the last 10 seconds of the Liakhovich fight were exciting).

Oddly, Lennox Lewis got called "boring" all the time back when he was fighting, but I don't hear any of that now that's been gone for awhile. If you want to see two skilled big men fight, you can't do any better than Wlad and Vitali. The fact that they dominate people bores those who don't like them in the first place, but there's obviously nothing they could do to change the minds of those kinds of "fans." In contrast, I found it very entertaining watching Vitali, for instance, dominate Cris Arreola, who is a good, tough fighter, doing all the things the people who call VK "robotic" said he couldn't do: utilize lateral movement, throw a variety of punches from all kinds of angles with an amazing workrate, etc.

If you want a barnburner-type slugfest, the last one I can really remember like that was Liakhovich - Brewster, and it left both men a mere shell of their former selves. You're simply not going to get that many of those kinds of fights in the heavyweight division: maybe Arreola-Adamek could be that kind of fight, and it could have the same after-affects on both fighters as well. But surely a boxing fan can enjoy more than just one type of fight. No, we don't need another Lennox vs Tua, or Wlad vs Sultan, or Haye vs Valuev, I can certainly agree with that.

[KittenFlaps]

[ChopperRead]

You can't honestly compare Briggs to Valuev. I know briggs has been rubbish the past few years and bulked up far too much, but his hand speed even at 270 is still far better than the giant's.

That just means Haye would be even more cautious and on his bicycle until Briggs wore out, which wouldn't take too long -- his last fight lasted not even a full round. Briggs vs Haye would be an even more extreme version of Valuev vs Haye, with Haye running faster and Briggs tiring quicker.

[paul750]

Myself and many others have encountered Briggs on the "Boxing from the East" chat boards (and yes, it is Briggs, not someone pretending to be him) and he has often said that "HBO wants white boys like the Klitschkos as champions" (which is absolute bull****) and called Wlad a *******ual, among other things. And I'm not sure how your criticism of the Klitschkos not being "exciting" really holds up. How "exciting" have David Haye's fights at heavyweight been? How "exciting" were Briggs's fights against Ibragimov and Liakhovich? (maybe the last 10 seconds of the Liakhovich fight were exciting).

Oddly, Lennox Lewis got called "boring" all the time back when he was fighting, but I don't hear any of that now that's been gone for awhile. If you want to see two skilled big men fight, you can't do any better than Wlad and Vitali. The fact that they dominate people bores those who don't like them in the first place, but there's obviously nothing they could do to change the minds of those kinds of "fans." In contrast, I found it very entertaining watching Vitali, for instance, dominate Cris Arreola, who is a good, tough fighter, doing all the things the people who call VK "robotic" said he couldn't do: utilize lateral movement, throw a variety of punches from all kinds of angles with an amazing workrate, etc.

If you want a barnburner-type slugfest, the last one I can really remember like that was Liakhovich - Brewster, and it left both men a mere shell of their former selves. You're simply not going to get that many of those kinds of fights in the heavyweight division: maybe Arreola-Adamek could be that kind of fight, and it could have the same after-affects on both fighters as well. But surely a boxing fan can enjoy more than just one type of fight. No, we don't need another Lennox vs Tua, or Wlad vs Sultan, or Haye vs Valuev, I can certainly agree with that.

Lennox was criticized for being too cautious throughout his career, but on reflection he was exciting compared to the brothers. He put Ruddock away early, had an entertaining fight with Bruno, showed a lot of heart in the tough with with Mercer, blew away Golota, had an exciting fight with Briggs showing heart to recover after being in trouble, blew away Michael Grant, put on a masterclass to avenge his defeat against Rahman [Wlad couldn't put him away years later when Rock was shot], and was in a brutal brawl with Vitali Klitschko. As well as that, he threw a variety of punches. The brothers just throw straight punches with no variety. Where are the uppercuts?
I don't personally dislike them, just find them a bit uninsiring. They are both very good boxers who are very difficult to beat. No doubt.

As for Briggs, if that really is him, it would be disappointing. But there's no way of proving it. Hopkins made racist comments before the Calzaghe fight, but it was argued that there was no real malice in it, it was just to promote the fight. But there should be no place for that nonsense in boxing or any sport. People just like watching exciting fights, regardless of colour.

[Tiozzo]

Resume of the letter : ''Please David Haye, give me one last big payday.''

[King Ju-Ju]

seems like david haye is the hottest thing in the hw division. wlad, bhop & briggs all want a piece of the hayemaker huh...... get in line boys, 1 by 1 all ya goin down. maybe not bhop though, thats a pointless fight.

[slindee3]

I only comment on what I see. And in Haye I see a guy who isn't man enough to stand toe to toe with another HW unless he's a journeyman like Bonin. I don't care what he did at Cruiserweight. That is a joke division compared to HW, that's why they all move up: Adamek, Thomson, Gomez, Haye.. etc etc. Haye just needs to find another guy who hits and runs for the dullest HW fight in history.

Don't be ******. If his style is to stick and move why should he stand and fight with bigger oponents? Would you stand toe to toe with someone who outweight you by 20,40,50 lbs? The man fights to win, not to box in a style at pleases you.

[Ray*]

I got Haye by KO.

Please let me steal your sig (gif)..I absolutely love your sig because thats my favourite arsenal goal from Arsenal's best ever player....Am soooo jealous.

[S.W.F.C]

Haye is a runner ?, yeah that's why he has 22 ko's from 25 fights.
How many of you net warriors would stand and trade with Valuev ?
The Valuev fight was boring, but the tactics were spot on.