By Tim Royner: Shannon Briggs (60-6-1, 53 KOs) is out to prove that age is just a number when he makes his comeback in 2018. Briggs’ career has gone into the hibernation mode since 2016. Briggs tested positive last year for a banned drug, and he was promptly given a 6-month ban by the World Boxing Association.
The former WBO heavyweight champion Briggs wants to give his career another shot. Before testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone, Briggs had planned on fighting Fres Oquendo for the WBA World heavyweight title. The positive drug test resulted in Briggs being removed from the WBA’s top 15 rankings. None of the other sanctioning bodies has Briggs ranked.
“This past year was a tough year for me. It’s been a long road, with many twists and turns, but I battled through it and feel good about the future. The Champ is back and ready to go!” said Briggs to Sky Sports.
Briggs wanted to fight David Haye in 2016. Briggs even fought on Haye’s undercard in May of last year against Emilio Ezequiel Zarate, hoping that it would lead to a fight between them. Haye chose not to fight Briggs unfortunately.
At 46, Briggs, training at the “Heavyweight Factory“, is going to need to work his way back to the top of the boxing rankings. It took Briggs 2 years to get a top 5 ranking by the WBA after making his comeback in 2014. If it takes Briggs another 2 years to get ranked in the top 3 by the WBA, he’ll be 48-years-old. It’s a little hard to imagine Briggs being able to fight at a high enough level for him to beat anyone of note. However, the WBA ranked Briggs high without him beating any quality heavyweights, so they might give him a high ranking again without requiring that he fight good opposition.
Out of Briggs’ 9 comeback wins from 2014 to 2016, he stopped 7 of his opponents in the 1st round. That’s pretty bad. When you’re knocking guys out in the 1st round, it means you’re a superb fighter or your taking on dreadful opposition. In Briggs’ case, he’s been fighting terrible opposition.
If Briggs can win a heavyweight world title in 2018, it would make him the oldest heavyweight to ever capture a major title. George Foreman did it at age 45 in 1994, stopping IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Michael Moorer by a 10th round knockout. That was the perfect situation for Foreman. Moorer was a small guy that had fought the major portion of his career at 175. He was outsized by Foreman in that fight. In this era the heavyweights are much larger and stronger with 6’7” Deontay Wilder and the 6’5” Anthony Joshua both holding titles.
If Briggs can just a world title shot against Joshua, he’ll make a ton of money he can potentially retire on. It would be almost impossible for Briggs to beat Joshua or Wilder. Just getting the fight with either of them would result in Briggs getting a big payday. Briggs will probably need to become the mandatory challenger before he’s given a title shot against either of those heavyweight champions. They’re not likely going to pick out Briggs in a voluntary defense because they would face heavy criticism from boxing fans for selecting an older guy.