Boxing Betting – Haye’s Comeback Continues vs Gjergjaj
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
David Haye (1/50) vs Arnold Gjergjaj (16/1), Draw (33/1)
Unbeaten after 29 fights, Arnold “The Cobra” Gjergjaj will put his undefeated record on the line when he faces English veteran David “Hayemaker” Haye on May 21 at the O2 Arena in London (3:00 PM Eastern) in a ten-round heavyweight clash.
Despite his unblemished record, the Swissman (by way of Kosovo) Gjergjaj comes in as a massive underdog. On paper, his 29-0-0 (21 KOs) record looks intimidating, but he’s beaten up on a bunch of subpar opponents and still has a lot to prove. The 31-year-old’s best win is a 12-round decision over Denis Bakhtov, and this will be just the second time he’s fought outside of his native Switzerland.
“The Cobra” has at least been somewhat active, fighting three times in 2015 and dominating Marino Goles via first-round TKO last time out.
He’s listed as the 35th-ranked heavyweight fighter in the world by the WBC.
His opponent, David Haye, is 27-2-0, career, with 25 KOs. The Briton will not only have the crowd on his side, but also has a distinct advantage in terms of quality wins.
The “Hayemaker” became the unified cruiserweight champion in 2008 winning the WBA, WBO, and WBC titles. He then moved up to heavyweight and won the WBA title in 2009 after defeating the Russian Nikolai Valuev (becoming just the second boxer in history to have unified the cruiserweight titles and won a world heavyweight championship). He also owns wins over John Ruiz and Dereck Chisora, and survived a 12-round battle with Wladimir Klitschko, losing via unanimous decision.
That said, Haye effectively retired from the sport in 2012 and is in the early stretches of the comeback trail. His return to the ring came in January when he stopped the overmatched Mark de Mori (TKO in the first).
Gjergjaj is going to be similarly outgunned. Expect Haye to welcome the Swiss fighter to the big leagues with an early knockout.
Pick: David Haye (1/50).
(Photo Credit: Loura Conerney CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
