David Haye made short work of Arnold Gjergjaj at the 02 Arena.
The Haymaker took just two rounds to demolish the Kosovan-Albanian heavyweight in front of a sell-out London crowd.
The 35-year-old let rip with his power-shots from the first bell, raining down heavy crosses and a jabbing clinic on Gjergjaj that went largely unanswered in the one-sided bout.
Former world champion Haye knocked him down several times before finishing him just one minute 35 seconds into the second round.
He lasted twice as long as his last opponent Mark De Mori who was put away after just two minutes and 11 seconds of Haye’s comeback fight.
https://twitter.com/AgainstTRopes/status/734131932519403520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Bermondsey fighter is believed to have earned close to £1million (€1.3million) from his five minutes of work at the 02 Arena against Gjergjaj, according to the Mirror.
Haye’s fight purse was believed to be around £500,000 (€646,000) for fighting the obscure Kosovan, nicknamed ‘The Cobra’.
But this figure was likely to be doubled with TV and radio money, as well as sponsorship deals around the fight which was Haye’s 28th career win and the 18th time he has notched up a KO within three rounds.
Haye takes a higher cut of gate receipts a he is self promoted and this latest banker will add to his £25m (€32m) haul from this fight career so far which has seen him become one of Britain’s highest-earning sports stars.
While it’s a far cry from the reported £15m (€19.4m) payday he netted from fighting Wladimir Klitschko or the £5m (€6.46m) he pocketed from beating up Audley Harrison, Haye is now looking ahead to mega money paydays once again.
His next fight looks set to be against Shannon Briggs in September, who comfortably won in one round against Ezequiel Zarate.
Shannon Briggs secures a first round KO win against Emilio Ezequiel Zarate.#HayeDayhttps://t.co/n1lB7PkjKz
— Betfred (@Betfred) May 21, 2016
Fighting the 44-year-old Briggs, who is a former WBO world champion, would be a step up in class and paypacket for Haye – but you’d expect him to put the wily veteran away.
All eyes will then be on a potential British heavyweight superfight with IBF champion Anthony Joshua.
Talk of Joshua vs Tyson Fury was pitched around the £40million (€52m) mark, so you’ve got to think that two weight ex-world champ Haye vs the unbeaten Olympic gold medallist could command something in the region of that.
