By Allan Fox: After s six month absence from the ring, former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs 58-6-1, 51 KOs) will be back in action against 29-year-old Mike Marrone (21-4, 15 KOs) in a 10 round bout on September 5th at the at the Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, according to Fight News.

It’s important for the 43-year-old Briggs to keep winning in order to get pushed up the rankings high enough so that he can get a world title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. With the kinds of opposition that Briggs has been facing since he launched his comeback in 2014, it might take him another two years or so before he can work his way to the No.1 spot in the World Boxing Association’s rankings.

This is why Briggs needs to break out of the mold of fighting just weak opponents and focus instead on facing actual contenders like we’re seeing with Alexander Povetkin. The Russian fighter took some big risks in facing Manuel Charr, Carlos Takam and Mike Perez in his last three fights.

You can’t say the same with Briggs. Marrone is actually a step up fight for Briggs, which is sad because this is a mismatch. Marrone has lost four out of his last seven fights. He’s been beaten by Guillermo Jones, Francesco Pianeta, DaVarryl Williamson and Darrell Madison.

There’s been talk of heavyweight Hughie Fury’s trainer being interested in matching Hughie vs. Briggs on the undercard of the Klitschko vs. Tyson Fury card on October 24th at the EPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. However, it’s unclear if that was serious interest or not. Besides that, it’s not too likely that Briggs would want to take a risky fight against Hughie and potentially risk top 10 ranking with the WBA.

Lucas Matthysse goes after WBC 140lb title against Viktor Postol on October 3rd

#2 WBC Lucas Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) will be going after another world title fight on October 3rd against unbeaten Viktor Postol (27-0, 11 KOs) on HBO ‘Boxing After Dark’ at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Matthysse failed the last time he fought for a world title two years ago against former WBC 140lb champion Danny Garcia in September 2013. It’s unclear if Matthysse lost due to an eye injury he suffered in the fight, or simply by not fighting a smart fight by failing to use his jab and focusing too much on throwing single shots instead of putting his punches together.

“He is one of the top fighters that the fans want to see,” said Golden Boy Promotions Vice President Eric Gomez. “Lucas never puts on a dull fight. Lucas is looking to become a world champion, defend the title, and then move on to bigger things.”

Matthysse recently had to reach deep to defeat Ruslan Provodnikov by a 12 round majority decision in his last fight four months ago in April of this year. It started out as an easy fight for Matthysse in the first part of the fight, but Provodnikov gathered his confidence in the second half of the fight and he really battered Matthysse in the last five rounds.

Matthysse got the win, but it turned out to be a very difficult fight for him. Going from a grueling fight like that one to one that could potentially be just as tough against Postol could be a problem for Matthysse if he’s not fresh for this fight. Postol has never had a tough fight during his career, and for that reason he’s going to be in good shape for this fight on October 3rd.

“He will always put up a good fight. Lucas is the top fighter in Argentina (right now) and in the U.S. He is becoming one of the top guys here, and around the world,” Gomez said.

Matthysse will have a lot of pressure on him to make the fight entertaining because he’s won a lot of boxing fans in the United States due to his exciting style of fighting.

With Danny Garcia moving up in weight to 147, you can make a strong argument that Matthysse is now the most exciting fighter and the most popular guy in the 140lb division. Matthysse may or may not be as good as WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford, but his fighting style arguably makes him a more appealing fighter than any of the other guys in the 140lb division.