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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 **** 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. [Click Here To Read More]
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 **** 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. [Click Here To Read More]
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