By Ryan Songalia
Fans tuning in to ESPN2's Friday Night Fights the last few weeks were treated to a news flash of sorts: Former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon "The Cannon" Briggs is still alive and well.
With regular commentator Teddy Atlas taking a leave of absence to cover boxing for the Beijing Olympic games, Briggs took over the responsibilities for his former trainer and earned some valuable experience for his post-boxing resume'.
Even though he looked to be far from fighting shape, that didn't stop Don King from mentioning him for a possible November clash with Andrew Golota in China's Chengdu National Stadium. Jameel "Big Time" McCline is considered the other front-runner to land the assignment.
"Don King called me and told me he was going to do a card over there and would I be interested in fighting," Briggs, 48-5-1 (42 KO), explains. "I said 'Yeah, well I've been off for a year and a half. It would depend on who the opponent is and how much time I'd have to train.' I'm a lot overweight right now, I'm over 300 pounds. I've been sitting on my ass for over a year. The correct thing for me to do is to fight my way back into shape."
McCline holds a 2002 unanimous decision victory over Briggs but has lost his last three dating back to 2006.
The 36-year-old Briggs has been inactive since losing his title belt by unanimous decision to Sultan Ibragimov last June. He says he has stayed busy by spending quality time with his children and doing work for his asthma-related charity, Fight To Breathe.
"I'm the first heavyweight champion to win the title with asthma," Briggs proudly asserts. "I think that says a lot for the 300 million asthma sufferers around the world. I'm reaching out to all asthmatics, hopefully they can see me as their champion."
Philanthropic matters aside, Briggs maintains that he is not ready to hang the gloves up yet.
"I'm very serious about fighting, I love boxing. I've had some bad breaks as far as going into the Ibragimov fight with pneumonia against my doctor's advice. Bad judgment on my side. There were a lot of threats of being sued by Warriors Boxing if I pulled out and the WBO was threatening to strip me. I had to take a step back and get a good team together. You have to have the right people on your team. I'm looking for the proper management and then I'm going to move forward."
Briggs was harsh in his criticism of his potential rival Golota, who at age 40 holds a record of 41-6-1 (33 KO).
"I don't think very much of him. Every time he gets a big opportunity he finds a way to mess it up for himself. The low blows with Riddick Bowe, quitting against [Mike] Tyson, getting knocked out in the first round by Lamon Brewster and Lennox Lewis. I rarely see him in fights where he does great. He won against Mike Mollo, but who is Mike Mollo?"
When Briggs re-enters the gym he will resume working under veteran trainers Chuck McGregor and Herman Caicedo.
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