By Jim Dower: In a battle of old timers, 45-year-old Shannon Briggs will be fighting 43-year-old Fres Oquendo for the vacant WBA World heavyweight title on June 3. The venue for the fight could potentially take place at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida.
The World Boxing Association has two titles at heavyweight. The other WBA title, known as the ‘Super World’ heavyweight belt, will be fought over by Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko next month on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
We could see an eventual showdown between the Joshua-Klitschko and Briggs-Oquendo fight down the road. That’s not going to be a great fight when/if it does take place. Briggs hasn’t shown the kind of ability in his recent fights that would suggest that he’ll be able to compete against the likes of Joshua or Klitschko. As for Oquendo, he hasn’t fought in 3 years since 2014 in losing a 12 round majority decision to Ruslan Chagaev. Oquendo did not look impressive in that fight. It’s doubtful that the 3 years out of the ring has done anything to improve his boxing skills.
Briggs has been more active than Oquendo. Up until last year, Briggs has been fighting a lot since making a comeback to boxing in 2014. Briggs fought 5 times in 2014, 2 times in 2015 and 1 time in 2016. Briggs was trying to get a fight against David Haye in 2016, but the fight never took place despite his efforts.
Briggs fought against Emilio Zarate last May on the undercard of Haye’s fight against Arnold Gjergjaj. Briggs thought that he would get a fight against Haye if he fought on his undercard. The fight never happened. The good news for Briggs is getting a shot at the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title on June 3 against Oquendo. It’s a very winnable fight for Briggs if he can let his hands go, and not gas out.
Briggs is rated #4 by the WBA and Oquendo #5.