“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.