By Paul McCreath: When Shannon Briggs first turned pro in mid 1992 he was showing a lot of promise.He was a top American amateur heavyweight who had won a silver medal in the Pan-Am games in 1991 although to be honest about it he didn’t have to win any fights to get that medal. He got a bye into the final where he was stopped by Felix Savon. Earlier in l992, he won the US championship before his pro debut.
Briggs first 25 pro fights were all wins and mostly by KO although the opposition was very soft. He finally met his first test when he met fellow undefeated prospect Darroll Wilson who had 17 wins and 2 draws. It was quite a shock to the experts when Wilson stopped Briggs in 3 rounds.This result and his subsequent career give us a good indication of Shannon’s real chances against Vitali. Up until this fight Shannon had never weighed more than 224 pounds for a fight and had started at 205 for his first pro bout.He was a well conditioned and very good prospect with fast hands, good technical skills and fine punching power. Unfortunately after the Wilson fight it was mostly downhill from there. He put together 4 easy wins over a bunch of nobodies and then was strangely put into a WBO title match with 48 year old George Foreman that he certainly never earned. George was on his last legs as a fighter and Briggs won a very unimpressive and disputed decision to take the title. George never fought again.
Shannon’s next bout was in March 1998 with the real champion Lennox Lewis who dispatched Briggs in 5 rounds. Briggs put up a good fight but in the end there was no doubt who was the better man. Over a year later in August of 1999 Briggs managed only a draw with fringe contender Frans Botha. This would be the last time he would ever weigh in at 230 pounds or less. His slim days were over.
The next few years saw little of a positive note except for a few wins over third tier foes who had little chance and one of them Sedrick Fields outpointed Briggs in April 2000. Briggs weighed 241 and 3/4 pounds. More soft bouts followed until he was defeated over 10 by Jameel McCline in 2002. Now Briggs was up to 268 pounds. Over the next few years the only name opponent he faced was the 44 year old with a drug problem Ray Mercer who did quite well until stopped under very questionable circumstances in the seventh round. This bout is available still on YouTube. Take a look for yourself at how Mercer was so easily able to keep his jab in Brigg’s face the whole fight and ask yourself how Vitali would do with his jab.You might also ask yourself if the result of this fight would have been let stand if Mercer was not the designated opponent and Briggs the fighter being groomed for another bigger match.It ended when an off balance Mercer careened into the ropes facing outward. Briggs then held Mercer in place with one arm while hitting him from behind in the temple. This could easily have resulted in a disqualification.Watch it and you decide.
At any rate, by November of 2007 the Briggs bum of the month club had worked again and he was matched with Sergei Liakhovich for the WBO title.Liakhovich had been a pretty good fighter but his bout earlier that year with Lamon Brewster had been a war that left both fighters damaged goods. Neither was ever the same again.In spite of this Liahovich was leading on all cards in a very poor fight when he was stopped in the last round.It was not an impressive win for Briggs yet this remains the high water mark of Brigg’s career. He would lose his title in his next bout to Sultan Ibragimov and looked terrible again. He hasn’t done anything in the three years since except for stopping 3 low level trial horses. He had one KO changed to a no contest when he tested positive for a banned substance which was never officially named so far as I know.
Now Briggs is being offered still another chance this time against Vitali Klitschko.He is now 38 years old and certainly no better than he ever was and maybe a lot worse.He is now a good 30 pounds above his best fighting weight.You have to question when you look at his record if he was ever anything special.He has never defeated a top 10 fighter in his prime in all his 18 years as a pro.How can we expect him to defeat Klitschko? Briggs entire career won and lost record is a mirage,a series of wins over low level opponents interspersed with a few failures when he stepped up.He is a colorful character who appeals to a lot of fans and has made the most of a very good publicity campaign but can he win against top men?.He never has before.Maybe Vitali is not quite what he was but he has not slipped much either.Just ask Chris Arreola or one of his more recent challengers.
Briggs can still punch and has good hand speed but will it matter? Vitali has had 42 pro fights without ever being knocked down or even hurt for any more than a moment if that.Even if Briggs got lucky and connected it likely would not matter.With his lack of stamina it is unlikely he could follow up with enough punches to finish Vitali. He would just work his jab and maybe hold a bit until his head cleared then carry on with outboxing Briggs.Shannon throws far too few punches to ever outbox Vitali.
In spite of many attempts to sell this match as a competitive fight it is not.It is like most of Brigg’s bouts a mismatch only this time Briggs is the designated loser.I see very little chance of anything except an easy win for Vitali likely by mid fight KO.
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