Shannon Briggs, who lost the WBO heavyweight title to Sultan Ibragimov in June, says he wants to fight Wladimir Klitschko at Madison Square Garden.
Said Briggs of the Ibragimov fight, "Nobody can beat a healthy Shannon Briggs. Pneumonia prevented me from performing up to my ability."
Does anyone else find Shannon Briggs as annoying as I do? Who the hell has he ever beaten? A flukey KO over Sergei Liakhovich, a win over an old, washed-up Ray Mercer, and a majority decision against a 48-year old George Foreman. That's what Briggs has going for him. Otherwise, his big fight track record reads like this: Destroyed by Lennox Lewis, pummeled by Jameel McCline, and dominated by Ibragimov (oh, but it was pneumonia as the villain, surely).
He's a career B-lister heavyweight, a fringe contender who happened to win a world title at an opportune time, in the final ten seconds of a fight he was losing. Good for him. But please don't feed us any lines about being the best guy out there "if you're healthy" -- no one's buying the book.
If it happened (and it might), in what round do you favor Klitschko? I'll go third.