''Shannon, You Don't Have a Mic.''

[Sutekh uvdabrix]

shannon briggs is cool as hell.. back in the day he used to spar in the red brick gym out here and loved to crack jokes but never really meant harm and people knew it...but like you said his work ethic was/is terrible..my man told me that when they did road work shannon literally would do 1/4 to half a mile and that would be it.

[STILL_DETOX]

shannon briggs is cool as hell.. back in the day he used to spar in the red brick gym out here and loved to crack jokes but never really meant harm and people knew it...but like you said his work ethic was/is terrible..my man told me that when they did road work shannon literally would do 1/4 to half a mile and that would be it.

red brick? where is that? is that the gym in brooklyn? but yea hes a huge guy,road work isnt easy

[LA BAD BOY]

SHANNON would KO WLAD in few rounds!

[ИATAS]

shannon briggs is cool as hell.. back in the day he used to spar in the red brick gym out here and loved to crack jokes but never really meant harm and people knew it...but like you said his work ethic was/is terrible..my man told me that when they did road work shannon literally would do 1/4 to half a mile and that would be it.

Apparently he has asthma or something. I always figured it was because he was basically a body builder, too big of muscles = bad stamina.

[paul750]

Early life

Raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Shannon was born premature and due to this was born with underdeveloped lungs and asthma. He became homeless for some time and later became a boxer after losing a bet with a high school friend. Shannon is from the same Brownsville section of Brooklyn that produced heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Rid**** Bowe,

Amateur career

At age 17, Briggs began training at Jimmy Farrow's Starrett City Gym. Briggs’ stellar amateur career included a New York Daily Golden Gloves title, an Empire State Games championship, a national PAL crown, United States Amateur Champion and a silver medal in the Pan Am Games.

Professional career

On July 24, 1992 in Catskill, NY, the place where Tyson formed a solid relationship with the late Cus D'Amato, Briggs began his professional career at age 20. Briggs, at 6' 4," had a unique combination of power and hand speed, as he knocked out 10 of his first 12 opponents in the first round. Briggs was labeled as a young heavyweight on the rise. 1995 was a breakout year for Briggs. Fighting on national television, Briggs won hard fought decisions over Craig Payne and seasoned veteran Marion Wilson. Briggs also amassed first round knockout victories against Will Hinton, Sherman Griffin, and Calvin Jones. Briggs was undefeated in his first 25 fights. With a record of 25-0, 20 KOs, with 15 knockouts occurring in the first round, Briggs' reputation as a "vicious puncher" soared. Briggs' first loss occurred on March 15, 1996. Briggs was overwhelmed by an asthma attack in a fight he was easily winning against then undefeated Darroll Wilson. Some of the greatest fighters, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Sugar Ray Leonard, have all lost. Briggs was determined to prove that greatness is not only determined by how many fights you win, but rather how you rebound from a loss. Following the loss to Wilson, Briggs scored four consecutive knockout victories and carried his momentum into a battle with the legendary George Foreman for the linear world heavyweight championship on November 22, 1997. Briggs, out of at least two dozen other heavyweight contenders, was selected as the most creditable and challenging opponent for Foreman, a former two-time world heavyweight champion. Briggs' power and hand speed provided the then 48-year-old Foreman with a compelling challenge. A victory against the legendary Foreman would propel Briggs toward the top of the heavyweight division. After 12-hard fought rounds, Briggs edged Foreman, via majority decision. The judges scored the bout 117-111, 116-112 for Briggs, and 114-114 even. Briggs' next fight was an even bigger challenge. On March 28, 1998, Briggs challenged Lennox Lewis for the WBC heavyweight championship. Briggs' presented a rare challenge for Lewis, who at 6' 5," 245 pounds, rarely stared at an opponent that was as tall, strong, and perhaps faster than himself. Lewis, very cautious of Briggs' right hand, was caught off guard by the challenger's left hook to the head. Lewis wobbled and nearly went through the ropes in the very first round. Briggs followed his assault with a vicious barrage of left and right hooks to Lewis' head and body. Briggs was literally one punch away from taking the world heavyweight championship away from Lewis in what proved to be one of the most exciting heavyweight title fights in the last decade. During the next several years, Briggs lingered around the top 10 dreaming of one day having another chance to fight for a world heavyweight championship. Briggs remained busy defeating a series of heavyweight contenders, but after several years removed from his war with Lewis, Briggs realized that he needed to do something significant to earn a title shot. During 2002-06, Briggs remained busy by taking on all comers in a series of off-TV bouts while touring North America with hopes of earning another title shot. During Briggs' climb toward the top, each of WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight championships were held by European fighters from the former Soviet Union for the first time in boxing history. Briggs was determined to break the European grasp of the world heavyweight championships, as he had amassed twelve consecutive knockout victories including a dramatic knockout of Liakhovich to win the WBO title.

In Briggs' first defense on June 2, in Atlantic City, NJ, the asthmatic Briggs entered the fight diagnosed with having pneumonia. Briggs lost the WBO title on a 12-round decision to unbeaten Sultan Ibragimov, who couldn't hurt the sickly champion who didn't enter the fight at 100%. He was able to cope during this time by remaining strong in his belief that he would someday regain the title.


He has also competed in a kickboxing match against MMA fighter Tom Erikson and won the fight by knockout.

[paul750]

I suppose some people might say they're excuses. But still, he's been unlucky it seems. I guess he could have trained harder. Very few heavyweights have that size, hand speed and power, though. Rare combination.

[egreezy]

The asthma and whatever medication he was on at the time affected him, I forget what he was taking but he mentioned it on OnTheGrind.

[Fox McCloud]

Briggs isn't brain dead, he's actually quite the character he's funny as hell and he does a good job commentating on fights, imo. I'm not a fan of him in the ring, but he's a cool guy outside of it.

I remember he wrote a letter to Wladimir Klitschko once, saying how they should unify it. The first line was about how he wasn't a doctor, and how he barely made it out of high school with a diploma, but...

Yeah, I think brain dead about covers it.

damn straight he'd have a chance. I mean Briggs came close to knocking out Lennox lewis. Still got his ass kicked, but he had his moments.

Come now... he clearly clubbed Lewis on the back of the head to get him hurt in the first round.

[Talon]

man briggs sure is a pineapple head

youd think with a name like shannon he wouldnt worry about his hair as much as a girl

but i like him as a boxer, even if his stamina is bad

[paul750]

I remember he wrote a letter to Wladimir Klitschko once, saying how they should unify it. The first line was about how he wasn't a doctor, and how he barely made it out of high school with a diploma, but...

Yeah, I think brain dead about covers it.



Come now... he clearly clubbed Lewis on the back of the head to get him hurt in the first round.

He had Lewis in trouble because of how fast his hands were. There's very few men that size with hand speed and power like that. As for being brain dead, who knows. He seems more lucid than the likes of Tyson and Bowe, though. Not that that is an achievement.