By Brent Matteo Alderson
It was in March of 1996 and I was about to watch HBO’s Night of the Heavyweights and I was telling my friends that Shannon Briggs was the only guy on the show who had a chance to become a great heavyweight.
You see Brigg’s potential had been so hyped by his manager Marc Roberts and the New York media that deeming their estimation of his abilities as hyperbole would be an understatement. The New York media loved Shannon, and his manager Marc Roberts had all the PR wheels rolling.
Heck even Ali endorsed him as a heavyweight with a bright future, commenting that he would have nick named him ”a woman or something” because of his dreadlocks. Even though Shannon’s accomplishments didn’t merit this type of attention he still had a lot going for him.
He was only 24 years old, he was an awesome physical specimen at 6’4 and a solid 225 pounds, and had 15 first round knockouts to go along with his perfect 25-0 record. That’s a pretty good resume for a young heavyweight prospect. There’s not a 24-year old heavyweight prospect in the world right now with those type of credentials.
Then the truth came out that night in March. Shannon was exposed by Do Damaging Darroll Wilson, a smallish heavyweight with limited amateur experience who not long before their bout was working as a security guard at a market. Wilson opened a cut above Shannon’s eye then stopped in the third round. Since that night I’ve never heard anyone say that Shannon was going to be a great heavyweight. Then a year later he was offered a fight with the 48-year old George Foreman in November.
I bet on Shannon going into the fight because Foreman had gone to war with Lou Savarese in April and even though any victory over any opponent is impressive for a 48-year old pug, I never thought much of Lou so I bet the house on Briggs and I was so sure Foreman had won the fight. I was sure that I had lost my bet because Foreman was dictating the fight, backing Shannon up with his left pole like jab. I thought Foreman had won at least 9 of the 12 rounds and along with Julio Cesar Chavez’s victory over Frankie Randal in their second fight felt that it was probably the most inept decision that I ever witnessed.
Still you had to recognize the official decision and thus you had to recognize Shannon Briggs as the Heavyweight Champion of the world because Foreman had the only title that matters; The Linear Heavyweight Title. Because if you choose not to recognize official verdicts then Jack Sharkey never beat Max Schmeling in their second fight and Jimmy Young would have to be regarded as a former Heavyweight champion based on his performance against Ali.
HBO and Lennox Lewis’s camp knew this and that’s why they set up a fight with Briggs the very next Spring in order to validate Lewis’s position as Heavyweight Champ even though the majority of sports fans inaccurately recognized Holyfield as the real heavyweight champ based on his high profile bouts with Mike Tyson.
At the time of the fight I was living the Pura Vida lifestyle in Costa Rica chilling on a beautiful beach with beautiful women and a friend called me from Vegas asking me what I thought about the fight. I told him, “Lennox should knock him out, but I’d bet on Briggs by first round knock out.”
You see Briggs still has more knockouts in the first round than any other round. He’s an explosive overwhelming puncher and easily does away with second raters and even though Lennox was an awesome heavyweight, he had been knocked out by McCall who wasn’t a big puncher so I thought the risk was worth the award. It had to be at least 50-1.
Even though Lewis was rocked badly in the first and my wild prediction was only a punch away from coming to fruit ration, Lewis’s class showed and he finally did away with Briggs in the fifth.
After that bout Briggs drew with Francois Both in 99, lost to Sederick Fields in 2000, yes Sederick Fields, and then lost to Jameel McCline in 2002. Since that time Briggs has put together a nine-fight win streak against mediocre opposition. Yes, he knocked out Ray Mercer, but the ex-army sergeant was so far over the hill that he was under it. And if you witnessed Mercer’s loss to the younger Klitschko in 2002, imagine how much worse he was three years later.
So don’t believe the hype. Just because you see smoke doesn’t mean there’s a fire and that especially holds true in regards to Shannon Briggs. He’s on a win streak and is claiming that he’s experienced and has learned so much, but that’s just rhetoric, he’s the same fighter maybe even worse, but I still want to see his fight with Samuel Peter. Because with all his deficiencies Briggs is a big heavyweight puncher with experience and there’s nothing better than heavyweight warfare.
Random Boxing Notes:
I really believe that Diego Corrales deserved the fighter of the year award. First he came back in the first Castillo fight in which I think is one of the ten greatest fights in the history of the sport and then he went ahead with the second match despite the fact that he was facing a fighter who had the advantage of not having to make the contracted weight. That’s class folks. In 2005, Corrales was my Fighter of the Year.
I can’t believe that people on the BoxingScene’s survey on the fighter of the year actually voted for Floyd Mayweather. That’s a complete joke. Who did Floyd beat in 2005. Arturo Gatti? Please! I don’t want to bad mouth Arturo because he has stones that could fill the back of a dump truck and if I ever run into him at a bar I’ll buy him a drink, but Gatti was never a great fighter. He was never a legitimate world champ. You see Main Events used to be based in New Jersey as was the IBF and the Duvas had a little bit of influence with the IBF.
So when John-John Molina vacated his IBF-130 pound strap to move up to 135 to fight De La Hoya in February of 95, the Duvas positioned Eddie Hopson to fight for the vacant title against some unknown Colombian. Hopson won the vacant title against a guy who wasn’t ranked in Ring Magazine’s top ten or Boxing Illustrated’s top 25.
Then in his first defense Hopson was starched by Tracy Patterson in two rounds on network television. Patterson was a decent fighter, but he had lost to Hector Acero Sanchez at 122. So in December of 95 on the undercard of Leija-De La Hoya, Gatti beat Patterson for the IBF 130-pound title.
Gatti’s championship at 130 was kind of tainted, it was like Breland’s welterweight title when he beat Volbrecht for the WBA title because political shenanigans had as much to do with his coronation as the IBF titlist as his fists did. Please don’t think I’m putting Gatti down because he’s a credit to the game and has brought in so many fans with his awe inspiring performances that I have nothing, but admiration and respect for him.
Take a look at my story on the linear title right here on BoxingScene.com. Just click on the following link; https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=372 to read.
A reader objected to me ranking Chavez as the greatest fighter in Mexican History because he thinks Carlos Zarate is number one. All I can say is nothing is more humiliating for a Mexican Champion than getting knocked out by their Puerto Rican contemporary. There was only a four-pound difference between Gomez and Zarate, and Carlos was 5’8, he was a big bantamweight, I just can’t see how someone could rate Zarate ahead of Chavez. Zarate was a great fighter, but I think Chavez accomplished more and beat better guys.
Please check out the March issue of The Ring. I did the cover story on Marco Antonio Barrera. It’s on sale now.
Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com
