BY GABRIEL PRINCEWILL
David Haye tonight continues his pathological process of regaining the world championship glory he once enjoyed.
A former undisputed cruiser weight and WBA heavyweight champion, the articulate and explosive Londoner will have his second come back fight against little known but reasonably competent and unbeaten Switz, Ondej Gjergjaj. Although the unbeaten 6 ft 5 inch attacking heavyweight has been written off by much of the boxing scribes for this fight, the visiting fighter is no push over.
His perfect record of 29 fights and 21 KO’s does not reflect the caliber of opposition depicted by his relatively impressive statistics. He has mixed with some opponents of comparable ability, but nothing to shout home about when compared with the mixture of company Haye has engaged in his somewhat illustrious career. Notwithstanding, Gjerjaj has emerged triumphant in all his showings and is fairly industrious during his combative encounters. A tremendous degree of moral support has accompanied his fights, and there are accomplished heavyweights today who have been fed with a lot more fodder opposition than he has.
David Haye is expected to emerge victorious tonight, but it is no more guaranteed than the triumphant expectations we had of Mike Tyson when he was knocked out by an unheralded Danny Williams in America about a decade ago. Gjergjaj is here to win, and should really be expected to give it a better go than Charles Martin did when he succumbed to the heavy shots of Anthony Joshua at the same 02 venue last month. Forecasts of a short night have circulated in the boxing press, and as probable as this may be, Haye may well be extended beyond our anticipations into the later rounds. Haye realistically needs a few rounds under his belt after his quick 30 second blow out last time out. However, Haye is the kind of fighter who finishes opponents at the earliest opportunity.
Haye is savvy, fast, and explosive. Extremely mobile with fast hands, the athletic 35 year old is likely to blow out his unbeaten opponent. A benchmark many have used to gauge Gjergjaj’s ability is his fight against Dennis Baktov, in which the former got off the canvas to win a unanimous decision against a fighter who lasted only two rounds against Anthony Joshua last year. This may not be a fair measurement of evaluation though, because Joshua is particularly heavy handed with remarkable power that knocks his opponents out senseless. Only the very durable Dillian Whyte has managed to go seven rounds with Joshua.
Haye strongly aspires to meet Joshua when the Londoner is ready but knows it is imperative that he completes this assignment successfully if his dream fight is to materialize with the lucrative remunerations that come with it. David Haye should dispose of this guy in about four explosive rounds, though he conceivably may do it in one or two rounds, in what will be an affirmation of his monstrous ability and power. A quick blow will not mean Gjergjaj is no good, what it will confirm is that David Haye is truly a dangerous force in what is building up to be a refreshing division after many years in the doldrums.
