Shannon Briggs is an interesting Mr. Right Now for Wilder

By Lyle Fitzsimmons

OK, before anyone gets too bent out of shape, take a breath.

No one is suggesting Shannon Briggs is a top-10 heavyweight.

No one is suggesting that wins over Michael Marrone, Zoltan Petranyi, Richard Carmack, Cory Phelps, Raphael Zumbano Love, Matthew Greer, Francisco Mireles and Maurenzo Smith – his quarry since a failed title try in 2010 – is enough to warrant anyone another championship shot.

And no one is suggesting, even if the match with Deontay Wilder happens, that Briggs would stand any more of a chance against a young, unbeaten champion than Marrone, Petranyi, Carmack, Phelps, Love, Greer, Mireles and Smith did against a 40-something ex-champion with six losses.

But what the Brooklyn-born “Cannon” does have going for him is heat.

He shows up at press conferences. He turns up in gyms. He accosts guys in bars.

In other words, and whether deserving or not, he finds every existing opportunity to bang the drum that he’s the sort of heavyweight fighter – loud, powerful and interesting – that Americans will be drawn to as a contrast to a robotic Wladimir Klitschko and an untested Wilder.

And when your other choices are a steady stream of anonymous never-weres like Johann Duhaupas and Eric Molina, he might have a point.

Heck, maybe a little middle-aged comic relief wouldn’t be so bad after, for the second straight outing, the unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion drew an inspired effort from an unheralded underdog before an adoring home-state crowd in Birmingham, Alabama.

Still, and most importantly, for the second straight time he also wound up a winner.

The 29-year-old title claimant improved to 35-0 as a pro and defended his share of the sport’s big-man empire with a grueling 11th-round TKO of No. 11-ranked contender Duhaupas.

“I love Alabama,” a sweaty, swollen Wilder said after the fight. “I know it’s tough fighting at home because you want to please and entertain the crowd. And didn’t you all get a show tonight? Oh my God.”

Indeed, the 6-foot-7 champion treated his 6-foot-5 foe as a heavy bag for the majority of the fight, ultimately landing 326 punches to Duhaupas’ 98 and connecting on 56 percent of his overall shots.

Duhaupas was sporting a purple lump under his left eye and a bloody gash on the bridge of his nose when referee Jack Reiss finally halted matters 55 seconds into the 11th. Wilder, who’d only gone farther in a fight once in his career, had an ugly swelling under his left eye, too.

My card had him up nine rounds to one – or 99-91 – at the time of the stoppage.

“He did everything we expected him to do,” Wilder said of Duhaupas, who’d never fought in the United States or competed in a significant title fight. “We knew he was tough. The most scary people are the ones you don’t know. When you’re fighting for a world title it brings a different beast out of a man. He was very strong. I can see why he’d never been stopped.”

It was the seventh bout in the “Heart of Dixie” for the Tuscaloosa-born titleholder, who defeated Molina in June to become the first American-born heavyweight to successfully defend a major crown since Chris Byrd retained his IBF title against DaVarryl Williamson in 2005.

The latest convincing win – not to mention The Bronze Bomber’s affinity for call-outs and other trash talk—will surely ramp up the chatter surrounding his next fight, and when it comes to chatter, there’s not a single option out there who’ll create more of it than Briggs.

He may not last a round, but man, won’t it’ll be a fun three minutes?

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

SATURDAY

IBF cruiserweight title – Benavídez, Argentina
Victor Ramirez (champion/No. 9 IWBR) vs. Ovill McKenzie (No. 14 contender/No. 15 IWBR)
Ramirez (22-2, 17 KO): First title defense; Held WBO title in 2009
McKenzie (25-12, 13 KO): First title fight; Second fight outside United Kingdom (0-1, 0 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Ramirez has a habit of being handed titles rather than winning them, but he’s not likely to lose to a guy who’s been beaten 12 times off of the main stage. Ramirez in 8

IBF junior lightweight title – Cincinnati, Ohio
Jose Pedraza (champion/No. 10 IWBR) vs. Edner Cherry (No. 14 contender/No. 42 IWBR)
Pedraza (20-0, 12 KO): First title defense; Seventh fight at 130-pound limit (6-0, 2 KO)
Cherry (34-6-2, 19 KO): Second title fight (0-1); Eighth 12-round fight (4-3, 3 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Pedraza may be still climbing the ladder, but a veteran like Cherry is precisely the sort of capable – but not overly threatening – opponent that he needs to beat at this point. Pedraza by decision

Vacant WBA super lightweight title – Cincinnati, Ohio
Adrien Broner (No. 2 contender/No. 4 IWBR) vs. Khabib Allakhverdiev (No. 5 contender/Unranked IWBR)
Broner (30-2, 22 KO): Eighth title fight (6-1); Thirteenth fight in Cincinnati (12-0, 10 KO)
Allakhverdiev (19-1, 9 KO): Fifth title fight (3-1); Held IBO, WBA titles at 140 (2012-14)
Fitzbitz says: Broner has clearly been exposed as a talented guy who’s not quite what the PR folks suggest he is. That said, he’s better than Allakhverdiev and will look good proving it. Broner in 7

Vacant WBC super lightweight title – Carson, Calif
Viktor Postol (No. 1 contender/No. 5 IWBR) vs. Lucas Matthysse (No. 2 contender/No. 1 IWBR)
Postol (27-0, 11 KO): First title fight; Seventh 12-round fight (6-0, 1 KO)
Matthysse (37-3, 34 KO): Second title fight; Third fight in California (2-0, 2 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Matthysse is the Argentine Provodnikov. Tough enough to be in every fight, but raw enough to be beaten by guys with all-around skills. Lucky for him, Postol’s not that guy. Matthysse in 9

Last week’s picks: 4-0 (WIN: Yamanaka, Estrada, Wilder, Takayama)
2015 picks record: 61-17 (78.2 percent)
Overall picks record: 700-240 (74.4 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.