David Haye has been in retirement since his second consecutive defeat to Tony Bellew in May 2018. 

In a bid for Haye to redeem himself after rupturing his Achilles tendon the first time they met in the ring, the pair fought a second time, where again the Londoner was beaten by Bellew, at which time the former announced his retirement from the sport following a 16-year professional career, despite being the favourite in both bouts with 'Bomber'.

Prior to his final fights with the Liverpudlian, it seemed as though Haye was on a collision course with America's Shannon Briggs.

With a meeting in the ring obviously not happening, Briggs' last professional fight was when he knocked out Emilio Ezequiel Zarate back in May 2016 on Haye's undercard.

And now, Briggs is determined to bring Haye out of retirement in order for them both to have one last fight.

“David let me down, David let the fans down, he went and fought Bellew,” he exclusively told Starsport.

“But my gut feeling tells me that David Haye’s coming back. My gut feeling tells me that David’s coming back for me."

After nearly three years out of the sport, there will be a considerable amount of 'ring-rust' for 'The Cannon' to shake off if he's hoping to return to the top division in boxing, but the American remains confident that he'd win against the 'Hayemaker'.

“I’d smash him up. I’d smash him up nicely. He was scared. He was scared that I’d break him into a thousand pieces. You see what happened when he fought Bellew, his leg broke. I would have broken his neck! His neck would have been hanging off!" 

Although it seems an improbable outcome that Briggs would be successful, given the fact he'll be 38 after a year's worth of getting back into shape, he claims he has what it takes and stands by the fact he's 'the people's champion': 

“To me, I’m the champ. I’m the people’s champ. They got the belts, but I’m the people’s champ. They got the lineal belt, the WBC, the IBF – but I’m the people’s champ. And that’s what’s making me happier than if I ever win the title."

Briggs will be wanting a couple of fights before encountering Haye in the ring, if it ever happens at all, and one exciting prospect would be a fight with Dereck Chisora, who Haye is now coaching. 

“I think a big fight for me over here would be Chisora. That would be a huge step-up fight for me once I got the ring rust off me,” he said.

“I’ll put a beating on him. A beating! Like he stole something from me.”

At the moment this is all just talk, only time will tell whether any of these fights will happen between some of the old boys of the sport, but it's still an exciting prospect.