By Sean McDaniel: The 35-year-old Paul Briggs (26-3, 18 KO’s) will climb into th ring on July 21st after a three year retirement to face IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green (29-3, 26 KO’s) in an all Australian fight at the Entertainment Centre, in Sydney, Australia.

After three years out of the ring, it’s questionable how much Briggs has left in the tank at this age. Before stepping away from the sport in 2007, Briggs had taken a ton of punishment in his two losses to then light heavyweight Tomas Adamek.

Although their two fights were close, there’s no question that Briggs lost both fights and took awful punishment in both fights.

During the prime of Briggs’ career, he defeated good fighters like Glen Kelly, Jesus Ruiz, Stipe Drews, and Jose Alberto Clavero. However, when Briggs met up with Adamek, he clearly had bumped into the ceiling of how far he could progress as a fighter. Adamek was little too talented for Briggs and he was never able to figure out how to beat him. Briggs could have and probably should have continued with his career rather than retiring three years ago. Had he stayed in the sport during those three years, there’s a good chance that Briggs could have picked up a belt or two over that time.

Green, 37, retired himself form boxing, taking two years off from 2007 to 2009. However, Green retired just after beating then WBA light heavyweight champion Stipe Drews by a 12 round decision in December 2007. Green probably would have been able to hold onto the WBA belt both of those years had he not retired, unless someone like Chad Dawson went after him. In that case, I think Green would have been beaten.

Since Green has resumed his boxing career in 2009, he has beaten Anthony Van Niekerk, Julio Cesar Dominquez, Roy Jones Jr. and Manny Siaca. The win over Jones was especially impressive for Green, as he jumped right on Jones from opening bell, knocking him to the canvas with a hard right to the head.

After Jones got back to his feet, Green unloaded on Jones with a blizzard of punches until referee Howard John Foster called a halt to the bout at 2:02 of the 1st round. It’s unclear why Green doesn’t go after a major title, because he seems to be good enough to beat one of the current cruiserweight champions. It’s a waste for Green to be holding down one belt, when he appears to be good enough to win additional titles in the cruiserweight division.