https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5dJjUi44i4

By Tim Fletcher: 43-year-old former WBO heavyweight title holder Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs (59-6-1, 52 KOs) won his 8th straight fight on Saturday night in stopping 29-year-old Mike Marrone (21-5, 15 KOs) in the 2nd round of a scheduled 12 round contest to keep alive his title hopes at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Briggs, #5 WBA, put Marrone down twice in the fight; once in the 1st and a final knockdown in the 2nd. The stoppage came on a left to the body from Briggs. The referee then halted the fight at 2:52 after it became clear that Marrone wasn’t going to be able to get up from the knockdown.

The flabby looking Marrone rolled around on the canvas with a look of pain on his face.
During the sequence of the stoppage, Briggs threw a flicking jab following by a right to the body and then a left hand to the body to drop him.

“Where’s Klitschko? Let’s go champ! Let’s go champ! Let’s go champ!” Briggs said after the fight.

Briggs is hoping to get a world title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitachko. However, it’s unclear if Wladimir will entertain him. Wladimir has a fight against Tyson Fury next month on October 24th in Dusseldorf, Germany. There’s no telling what will happen in that fight.

If Wladimir loses that fight, then Briggs can forget about a fight against him, because Wladimir will be fighting a rematch against Fury. Wladimir has a rematch clause in his contract with the tall British fighter, and he’s obviously not going to waste time giving the 43-year-old Briggs a fight once he no longer has his titles.

Briggs doesn’t seem capable of throwing to the head like he used to earlier in his career. His reflexes are gone, and he’s lost a lot of hand speed. When Briggs does throw punches to the head, he misses and he looks really slow. But he does still punch well to the body at this point, and that’s how he’s been knocking out all of his 3rd tier opposition in his comeback. His opponents let him stand directly in front of them at medium distance to throw his slow punches to the body.

Any good heavyweight would have no problems negating what Briggs does, but he’s facing only very weak opposition in his comeback. Briggs’ jab is really poor. It’s almost a backhand rather than a jab, and it’s very slow. Briggs won’t be able to land his jab against any good contender, and definitely not against Wladimir. The jab would hit air and it would lead to Wladimir countering him with a left hook to the head.

Briggs took a beating against former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in his last real fight against a good opponent five years ago in 2010 in losing a 12 round decision. I don’t think Briggs would be able to go a full 12 rounds against a fighter like Wladimir because he would counter his slow jabs with left hooks and right hands all night long. It’s doubtful that Briggs would be able to stay on his feet for long once Wladimir starts teeing off with his left hook.

Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente said this week that a fight against Briggs didn’t make business sense. If Boente has any influence on Klitschko, then it looks like we won’t be seeing him fight Briggs until the aging 43-year-old American works his way to the No.1 mandatory spot with the World Boxing Association. It’s going to take Briggs at least two more years to work his way to the No.1 spot with the WBA unless they move him to the No.1 spot without him having to beat a quality opponent.

The WBA likely won’t make Briggs fight his way to a mandatory spot, but if they do, then it’ll mean that he’ll need to actually take on a contender for a change instead of the 3rd tier fighters that he’s exclusively fought during his comeback. I don’t like Briggs’ chances against an actual contender, even a bottom ranked contender at 15. I think he’d lost to any of the top 15 contenders.

Klitschko didn’t look good in his last fight against Bryant Jennings. Wladimir looks like he’s ready to be beaten. If it’s not Fury that does it then it could be someone like Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua. One of those two.