Briggs should've never won lineal HW title and challenged Lewis' belt

Briggs was mediocre overall. He was fast and had good movement but he had mediocre defense, chin and stamina. His stamina improved somewhat as he got more experienced but his defense and chin were always a liability.

 

Shannon was ( and still is ) a big strong man with lots of power. He fought actively in spurts throughout his career, keeping busy when he was serious. The first time I ever saw him fight was on that 1996 HBO prospect card which featured Tua vs Ruiz, Golata vs Nicholson and Briggs vs Wilson. Shannon was touted as a good young hopeful and after listening to the prefight talk, I was expecting good things from him.. The fight proceeded and Wilson cleaned Brigg's clock.. I basically forgot about him until some time later when he fought Lewis. Being big, strong and hard punching is one of the key tools to having a long career in the heavyweight division. Had Briggs been blessed with Ray Mercer's chin he might have gone a bit further. As for how I rate him? Probably a quality fringe contender when at his best.. At any other point, maybe just " a tough customer." And no I did not buy into the notion that upon narrowly getting a decision over Foreman that he was " The champ." Foreman had long been stripped of his belt, was approaching 50 years of age, and for all practical purposes probably deserved the decision anyway.. If Lennox Lewis came back tomorrow and lost to a 15-7 journeyman i sure as hell wouldn't call that journeyman " The champ."

 

I've never heard people list Briggs among Lewis's best wins

 

I don't know who Briggs beats if he was born a couple generations earlier. When Briggs was an amateur, he weighed less than 201 pounds.

When he turned pro, he ballooned in size - and he also tested positive for steroids/PEDs at least three times.

One thing Leon Spinks and Ray Mercer had when they were at their best was stamina. Spinks against Ali in fight one and against Mercado was a non-stop puncher.

Shannon has always gotten gassed if he throws too many punches, both because he has asthma and because - at certain times in his career - he's been swollen like a balloon.

Briggs is a tough guy to gauge. His record is padded with tons of stiffs. He's failed multiple PED tests. But he has skills. The loss to Darroll Wilson is kind of a red flag, though. Even those smaller guys from decades ago ... if they could take his punch ... would likely keep such a hectic pace that Briggs wouldn't be able to keep up.

 

If your attempts at arithmetic in the Marciano thread are anything to go by people can take the above with a pinch of salt.:hi:

 

Yet Pascal challenged for 2 versions of the light heavyweight title and lost to a 50 y.o twice

 

Briggs is a muscle bound oaf in the ring. No great skills, No stamina. I too scored his bout with Foreman for the champion. However what matters are the official cards. Briggs won and with that win became the next true hwt champion. His fight with Lewis I did not think Briggs would show much....and he didn't. Today Briggs is just pushing for a big final payday. He knows he has little chance to beat the current titleholder.

 

People didn't really track lineage then tbh.

It was all Lewis, Tyson and Holyfield. Foreman was losing novelty and no one gave a rats **** about Briggs.

 

Historians track the lineal title and it means plenty. Foreman was the champion until he lost it in the ring. Like it or not Briggs was given the nod over George and that was that. A new lineal champion was crowned.

 

There are plenty of contexts in which it meant F--kall. And this was one of them.

 

Foreman lost to Schulz and deserved the nod over Briggs.

As for Briggs he is vastly overrated by some on these boards. He wouldn't crack my top 20 for 90s heavies.

 

At the end of the day, there is no judicial review in boxing.

Fair or not, the lineage stands.