By Ryan Songalia (photo by Richard Beebout)
The boxing fates are often unpredictable. If this fight took place in February, it would have been laughed out of any arena. In the free-wheeling heayweight picture where anything can happen, we find two unlikely foes springing from anonymity competing at the highest level of the sport. What makes this different is that we might actually want to stick around for this.
An old axium states that styles make fights. What WBO Heavyweight champion Sergei "The White Wolf" Liakhovich and Shannon Briggs bring to the ring is a style matchup that should be a genuine fire fight.
Given the demographic swing of the upper hierarchy in the division, there is no need for a subplot to this fight. What you have is one of the four European heavyweight titlists defending against an American in a fight that has the makings of a competitive affair. In Bob Arum's last heavyweight flop, Rahman was sadly portrayed as "America's Last Line of Defense", which inspired semi-convulsive shakes of the head even before "The Rock" was stopped by Oleg Maskaev. Briggs is no American hope. It's safe to say that the general public hasn't taken him seriously since his embarrassing misadventure against Jameel McCline. What he is though is a talented, exciting contender who will make things interesting no matter who ends up on top.
What both men share are difficulties finalizing bouts with IBF heavyweight titlist Wladimir Klitschko. The November 4 date that this fight will take place on was initially scheduled to feature Briggs squaring off with Klitschko in Madison Square Garden. Difficulties arose when Briggs' former manager Shelly Finkel was unable to close the deal on that high profile bout. Similarly, Liakhovich also had a falling out with the Ukrainian giant, leaving both men without opponents. When Briggs left Cedric Kushner to sign with the eccentric Don King, that opened the gate for these two skilled big men to throw down for a heavyweight strap.
While not the most assuming of the heavyweight entities, Liakhovich, 23-1 (14 KO), is perhaps the most gifted and promising. He has that intangible, the hunger that can only come from a hard upbringing, one he experienced in his native Belarus. Take into consideration that he is the only heavyweight titlist to have withstood the test of character essential to proving one's credability as a heavyweight champion. Who can say that Valuev, Klitschko, or Maskaev have done the same in recent years?
Save for his lone aberration, an unexpected stoppage loss to heavyweight spoiler Maurice Harris, Liakhovich has performed solidly against decent opposition. It was his decision victory over Dominick Guinn that transformed him from an ignorable pugilist to a legitimate fringe contender.
In April of this year, Liakhovich showed the world what he was made of when he faced off with the favored defending champion, Lamon Brewster. Brewster had the momentum as the most impressive heavyweight of the post Lennox Lewis era. Coming out of similar anonomys circumstances, he grabbed the public's attention with devastating knockouts of Wladimir Klitschko, Luan Krasniqi, and Andrew Golata. Most boxing pundits didn't give the Belarussian big man much of a chance against Brewster, except for maybe Shannon Briggs himself, who the night before as special guest on Friday Night Fights picked Liakhovich to unseat Brewster.
In what was perhaps the most entertaining heavyweight scrap of this decade, Liakhovich outslugged and outbrawled the consumate banger in Lamon Brewster over twelve wildly amusing rounds. His mixture of fluid combination punching, a hard chin, noteworthy handspeed, and heart only comparable to his opponent pulled him through in one of the most draining and violent fights of this calendar year. What may be most impressive of his attributes is his stamina, as he was able to sustain the hellish pace of the fight over the duration of the street fight with gloves.
While Liakhovich has many commendable assets, what remains as his main question mark is his relative inexperience. Before the Brewster fight, he had never previously faced a world class fighter. That is unless you believe Dominick Guinn meets the criteria. Beating Brewster is one thing, a guy who you could throw a bottle at from the nose bleed section and find a way to nail. Liakhovich himself feels that Briggs is another style entirely. "He's a totally different boxer, totally different strategy", stated the man of few words. In the musical chairs roulette wheel of heavyweight titlist status, it remains to be seen how long Liakhovich can keep the belt around his waist.
If boxers were filed into categorized cabinets, then Briggs would be in the same folder as Andrew Golata and David Tua. Flashback to 1995, on HBO's initial presentation of "Night of the Young Heavyweights". Briggs, now 47-4-1 (41 KO), was being groomed as the future successor to the heavyweight throne. All of that disappeared when he was blown out by the lightly regarded Darrol Wilson in three rounds. Since then, Briggs has worn the reputation of an underachieving, over-eating heavyweight enigma who couldn't put his wondrous talent to fruition.
After earning a dubious decision over an ancient George Foreman and then falling apart in a spirited performance over Lennox Lennox, Briggs was dismissed as a fighter whose lackadaisical approach to the sport would prevent him from living up to his potential. Now, four years removed from his disappointing setback to Jameel McCline, he has found himself in an unexpected position fighting for a world title.
As has been belated time and again by boxing scribes, the division is shallow and lacking of any real personable attractions in the sport. In identical fashion to Arturo Gatti's fortune in attaining title shots, Briggs is a known commodity in the sport whose entertainment value and charismatic personality outshine his shortcomings in the ring. Look at it this way. While most question Briggs' credentials as a current title applicant, would you rather see Brian Minto or John Ruiz dragging their feet around to an uneventful loss? Probably not.
Thus leads us to Briggs. Briggs has run off eleven consecutive knockout victories over Joe Blow and the Nobody Crew. The only recognizable name among his recent opposition has been Ray Mercer, who is closer to filing for Social Security benefits than contending for a title. True, perhaps Briggs hasn't earned his title by anything he's done this decade, but who has? Among the current crop of heavyweights, the only fighters worthy of a title shot who have yet to get their opportunity are Sultan Ibragimov and Calvin Brock. The latter, 2000 US Olympian Brock, will be getting the coveted Klitschko date later this year for a title, while Ibragimov is still on the outer cusp of full maturation as a contender.
What makes this a competitive fight is Briggs' world class talent. He has big punching power in both hands, and a mastery of several different blows that he can throw with surprising quickness. Except for Wladimir Klitschko, no other big man can hook off the jab with such technical precision. His biggest shortcoming is in the stamina department. Asthma and an inability to maintain his weight have relegated him to a six round fighter, after which his endurance betrays him. It's been his achilles heel, and at 34 it probably won't get much better.
Things began routinely, with Briggs entering training camp at altitude in Colorado Springs under the watchful eye of his close ally, Jeff Mayweather. All of that changed in Mid-September, when Briggs brought in Chuck McGregor, a Phoenix based trainer whose notable former clients include Sergei Liakhovich and Hasim Rahman. "There was just so much chaos and confusion going on from one day to the next, you didn't know what was happening", stated Mayweather. "Some days, we would wake up and run as a team, some days we'd run with select people, then some days we wouldn't run at all."
Mayweather elected to withdraw from the proceedings, feeling that he was being "phased out" by Briggs' overpopulated training camp. With all that was going against him already, internal turmoil adds yet another issue for Briggs to contend with.
Prior to exiting camp, Mayweather spoke very highly of Briggs' mental state going into the fight. Mayweather believes that Briggs' biggest asset is that he is now a grown man. "I think that the most important part is that you're going to see a mature Shannon Briggs", Mayweather claimed.
Briggs understands that if he is ever going to have a night when he can put it all together, now is the time to pull it out of his hat. "I'm hungry, I'm starving", says Briggs. "I have no other choices, this is it." His rejuvenated desire has bought him enough time to make one last run, however it remains to be settled whether that will be enough.
Should Briggs win this fight, it would turn the division on it's head. Of course, we will hear the same song from the detractors everytime, about how the division is so bad that even Briggs could get a title belt. In reality though, it would take a complete, disciplined outing from the Brooklynite to pull this off, which would earn Briggs a great deal of credability. Particularly if he is impressive in victory, Briggs' career would find a most improbable Spring, with his charismatic, personable ways winning over a legion of American fans searching for a champion. He's 34 but hasn't sustained a whole lot of damage in his career, which means he'd have a chance to get in a few defenses before his career buys the farm.
If he fails to bring the belt back to the States, it's damn near impossible to fathom a scenario in which Briggs receives another title shot. There is no other way to describe it, Briggs needs to win this fight to have any chance at having a meaningful future in the sport. This showdown is pivotal to how his career will be viewed. He can either be remembered as the guy who got the gift decision against Big George, or as the man who ended the Soviet reign in the heavyweight division. This fight is his own personal Super Bowl.
Liakhovich is not without his own pressures. Prior to the Brewster fight, consensus thought was that Liakhovich was a forgettable former prospect who had lost his way. Overnight, he went from being the guy Maurice Harris drowned to the heavyweight hope who could actually put on some entertaining shows. He needs to make a statement in his first defense to separate himself from the mediocrity of the rest of the bloated bunch. If Liakhovich fails to win impressively, he could lose alot of the momentum he garnered from the Brewster fight with the public.
It's an opportunity for one to prove his mettle as a champion, and a chance for another to justify his career. This fight will not provide us with a clear candidate for heavyweight champion, but it might convince us to want to check out the heavyweights again. In the end, that's worth more than any alphabet championship.
Any questions, comments? Send them to my e-mail at mc_rson@yahoo.com
