browne4333 By Jeff Aranow: 44-year-old #4 WBA contender Shannon Briggs (59-6-1, 52 KOs) has heard the news about Lucas Browne (24-0, 21 KOs) capturing the WBA heavyweight title, and he’s now very interested in facing the 36-year-old Australian fighter.

Browne defeated the 37-year-old Ruslan Chagaev (34-3-1, 21 KOs) last Saturday night by a 10th round knockout at the Colosseum Sport Hall, in Grozny, Russia. Briggs has won eight consecutive fights over 3rd tier opposition since launching his comeback in 2014. The World Boxing Association has rewarded Briggs with a No.4 ranking with their organization despite his reluctance to fight any real quality fighters.

“BRIGGS VS BROWNE #LETSGOCHAMP I’M RANKED #VAMOSCAMPEON #WEGOTWORKTODOCHAMP #LFGC #lucasbrowne,” Briggs said on his Twitter.

The question now is will Browne look to take on Briggs or will he instead choose to face the likes of Fres Oquendo or one of the champions in the division? Oquendo is supposed to be getting a shot at the WBA belt, but Browne could look to fight one of the champions.

Browne wasn’t supposed to win last Saturday night, but he got lucky in catching Chagaev with a right hand in the 10th that put him down on the canvas. The next thing you know, Browne finished off Chagaev with a flurry of shots when he got up from the knockdown.

It's war in the making I can smell it.😊😊😊 #yeahchamp #LETSGOCHAMP #ItsTheChamp #shannonthecannon #champready #UnitedKingdom I'm on my way Champ #LETSGOCHAMP #england #wales #scotland #ireland #lucasbigdaddybrowne @lucasbigdaddybrowne I'm looking for you mate you now made my hit list #LFGC 🙌🏾💪🏾💣🌪📡💥 #cHaAaMp #🎼🎼🎼 #cHaAaMp They ain't want to mention my name last night 😂😂👍🏾 You can't mention heavyweight boxing and not mention the #TheChizzy 😂😂😂 #LETSGOCHAMP #CHILLCHAMPCHILL nah ain't no chill #VAMOSCAMPEON #BROOKLYN #LFGC IN THE 1980'S I GREW UP ON MILLER AVE IN EAST NEW YORK ALL THE HARD PUERTO RICANS TOOK ME IN AND I USE TO EAT AT THERE HOUSE IN #1983 THEY TAUGHT ME MANY BOXING TECHNIQUES THAT I USE TODAY #VAMOSCAMPEON #killermiller #eastny #pinkhouses #cypress #milforsstreet

A video posted by Shannon Briggs (@cannon_briggs) on Mar 6, 2016 at 12:04pm PST

Briggs got an arguably undeserved world title shot in 2010, when he challenged WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko for his belt and promptly lost the fight by a lopsided 12 round decision. Briggs took the same approach to getting that title shot as he did in working himself in position to get this one. In other words, Briggs fought weak opposition to get the shot. Briggs also used the same approach to get a title shot against WBO champion Siarhei Liakhovich in 2006, but surprisingly Briggs won that fight in rallying to score a 12th round knockout. Briggs would have lost if he hadn’t knocked Liakhovich out in the final round.

Briggs had been trying to get a title shot against former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, but he was totally ignored by him. Now that Wladimir is no longer a champion, Briggs has turned his attention to Browne. It’s going to be a little more complicated for Briggs to meet up with Browne to ask him for a fight like he did with Wladimir, because Browne lives in Australia. For Briggs to confront Browne and ask him for a fight in his home country, it’s going to require that Briggs fly over. With Wladimir, it was easy because he was training in Florida and Briggs didn’t have to go through nearly as much trouble to run into him.

Browne, 36, and his team need to sit down and look at all their options for fights. They have a lot of choices. If the WBA pushes Browne to take the fight against Oquendo, then that will narrow down Browne’s options. However, a fight against Oquendo is one that Browne can win as long as he fights aggressively. He can’t use the same approach against Oquendo that he did against Chagaev, because he’ll give away too many rounds and could end up losing a very winnable fight.