IBO Boxing Honesty and Integrity
By Scoop Malinowski
Shannon Briggs is back in the hunt for a title fight at age 34.
Here’s how he assesses the landscape of the heavyweight jungle.
Read on for the insightful, interesting and sometimes hilarious perspectives of heavyweight contender Shannon Briggs:
Calvin Brock: “I’m impressed. He’s a guy who I think is limited skillwise but I think he’s sound technically. Just that alone, he seems real basic, he’s not doing anything extravagant. He’s just coming in like somewhat of a robot, but he’s getting the job done with that and his technical skills are helping him.”
Evander Holyfield: “Great fighter. Past his prime, we all know that. Legendary fighter. He’s a light heavyweight/cruiserweight who went up to heavyweight to fight the big men, put his life on the line. Gave everything, gave great, epic battles with Tyson, Bowe. Can’t beat him, love him. Gotta admire him for what he’s done.”
Samuel Peter: “Tough fighter. We all know he’s strong as an ox. But he showed in the Klitschko fight he’s raw. He needs to be polished. But he can be a potential superstar one day. We have to see if he’s gonna be able to take that beating – you see what happened to Mugabi after the Hagler fight – he was never the same. We gonna see if he can come back. He took a lot of punches, maybe too many punches. And that 12th round he was ready to go. Klitschko, being who he is, didn’t know what was going on, he couldn’t muster it up. But I don’t know. That was some blows.”
Lamon Brewster: “Comeback kid. He’s a guy who lost to Clifford Etienne and Charles Shufford. Outboxed easily by Shufford. But put his pedal to the metal, came back, stayed in there, stayed busy and look where he is – heavyweight champion with two great defenses under his belt.”
James Toney: “Blown up middleweight. Great middleweight for his time. Real big **** talker but at the same time you gotta love what he does for the sport. He’s building a following. I get people all the time, Yo, who’s this James Toney? Won’t he shut his big mouth? But it’s great. Any news is good news in the boxing business. But come on, can you see a guy looking fat come into the ring beating young guys like Dominic Guinn, Rydell Booker – he’s just showing you he’s a real fighter. He’s a real fighter.”
Wladimir Klitschko: “He’s doing it, man. He’s working hard. He worked his butt off from what I heard for the Sam Peter fight. He worked really hard. He needed to work really hard. There were some moments in that fight where he was on rocky road but he proved to be a better boxer, the more talented guy.”
Jameel McCline: “A guy that beat me. I wasn’t at my best. And I will say that. What can I say? He’s lost some tough fights. He’s on the comeback now. We’ll see.”
John Ruiz: “Tough guy. He’s had some tough fights. He’s had some wars with Holyfield. He’s a scrapper. He might not be pretty but he gets it done.”
Vitali Klitschko: “A very talented heavyweight before he retired. I think he was best known for his loss to Lennox Lewis. And that’s his biggest fight. His biggest fight was a loss. At the same time, he was talented, tall and lanky. We’ll see what happens.”
Chris Byrd: “Good, solid heavyweight. Brave, not afraid to fight the big guys. Good defense and upper body movement. Has had a very good career.
Hasim Rahman: “I don’t know, Rahman’s a guy who was a big right hand puncher. How much does he have left though? You seen him in the Monte fight – he looked very one dimensional, trying to knock him out. I don’t know what he has left. At one time he had a big right hand. We’ll see. He’s a tough guy. He got knocked out bad against Lewis. Knocked out bad against Maskaev. Many people say he’s been on the downhill since Lewis.”
Nicolay Valuev: “Frankenberry.”
David Tua: “No longer participating in pro boxing. He is now an employee at the
Chicken Kitchen.”
Sultan Ibragimov: “Good fighter…but nobody cares.”
Antonio Tarver: “[Shannon looks at me for a few seconds like I’m nuts]…So how you been [laughter].”
