By Luke Furman

Inactive since taking a bad beating at the hands of WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in October 2010, former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs (51-6-1, 45KOs) plans to fight again in March or April of this year. The twelve round beating from Klitschko had sent Briggs to the hospital with serious injuries. Briggs advised Miami's Santos Perez that he wants to end his career on a much higher note.

Briggs is going to take things slow. He wants to get another opportunity to challenge for a world title.

“I plan on coming back in March or April,” Briggs said. “This is just something I wanted to do again after a long process of soul searching. It was heartbreaking [to lose to Klitschko], I first considered retiring. The thought of not winning the title from Klitschko was painful. I have given my body enough time to recover and I am very proud of my conditioning since I returned to the gym.”

“I am aware that I have to pace myself and we’ll see where we go after my first fight. I’m 40 but thankfully, I haven’t been in many wars. The Klitschko fight was the obvious exception.”

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.