Former heavyweight world champion Shannon Briggs, 47 years old, is applying for a British boxing license and wants to fight in the UK.

Briggs has been out of the ring for nearly three years time. The last time he saw action was on UK soil, when he picked up a first round knockout on a David Haye undercard.

The win was supposed to set the stage for a fall encounter with Haye, but the fight  never happened.

There are many who view Briggs as being retired, but he intends to continue fighting.

"We've been trying to look for the right fight," Briggs told Sky Sports. "I'm actually going to go in front of the [British Boxing Board of Control], and hopefully get a licence here to fight. I've been licenced to fight in the US, but I would love to fight here in England.

"Hopefully you'll see me in the ring in June or July, but I'll be back this year hopefully. I get a great response from the people. People seem to be fans, so I'd love to fight here, but if not, I'll hopefully fight on the undercard of Tyson Fury. If not, I'll still keep at it. I'll never give up."

According to Briggs, he recently spoke with Tyson Fury, who returns to the ring on June 15th against undefeated German contender Tom Schwarz in Las Vegas.

"I spoke to [Fury] a few weeks ago," Briggs added. "He's a good guy, a great guy. The boxing brotherhood lives on forever, and the fact that he even reached out and said 'I'll give you a shot' and get me on the card, that shows love from a fellow boxer, because he sees a guy not working, not being busy in the ring.

"He's like 'I'm going to give him a shot.' I've got to respect and love him for that. I just want to have fun. This is what I've been doing all my life. To become a heavyweight champion would be phenomenal again, in three different decades.

"Aside from that, boxing is therapy for me, a guy like myself, I've been through a lot in my life, and boxing is my therapy to calm me down, kind of forget the rough things and to actually put my best foot forward. Exercise is great for all types of depression. I use exercise as my way out. That's my help."