Oh poor @Seamus was defeated once again. No worries here comes Journey whatever the **** to the rescue.
I don’t follow, you also shouldn’t put so much obvious emotional value on “winning or losing” hobbyist debates on a boxing forum. It’s not good, but lots of people have been there. It’s not up for debate that steroids however were very prevalent in the 60s-70s.
briggs lost to sedreck fields and jameel mcCline. Got knocked out by darroll Wilson, and got a gift draw against frans Botha. Besides the robbery decision against a shot foreman, he never even beat a B level fighter. So I don’t understand how people think he would have a close fight with Lyle.
So let me get this straight. Both you and Seamus actually believe that Ron Lyle served around 7 years out of a 15 year sentence while boxing in prison and was on steroids?
You're right, Briggs has a seriously inflated record. Just reading through his Boxrec page, probably around 60 of his 67 fights were against guys who were c-level or worse at the time Briggs fought them. His best two wins: a decision over Foreman which just about nobody agreed with, and a last-second, come from behind KO vs Liakhovich...literally last second, at 2:59 of the 12th. What's his best win aside from that? His odd looking KO over a shot Mercer maybe? There's really not much else...
If Lyle was able to repeat the form from the fights with Shavers and Foreman - I would favor Lyle. Against Foreman, the nuances decided, and Foreman had to give 101 percent of himself to win. Lyle seems to be at his best against the great puncher.
This could be one of those fights where you think "How the hell are they both still standing!!'' Lyle should get it but Briggs could hit, so...
Check out the pictures of Holyfield when he was a prime 28 year old cruiser weight, and then when he was a massive hulk 6 years later. Steroids add muscle mass, it's inevitable with regular use.
I would take the tougher, more durable guy here. Shannon Briggs has had a physical advantage over a number of opponents he's lost to. His stamina issues would dog him here if he didn't get Lyle out, and I've seen worse guys last against Briggs.
Lyle looks just like the inmates who do prison work outs (lots of pushups, sit ups, etc). He was apparently doing like 1000 pushups and situps a day. I've seen guys who look like Lyle at the prisons I worked at. It's typical for them to have a really developed and shredded upper body and smaller, less defined legs. I don't see any evidence he had the kind of pull to get steroids on a regular basis.
Briggs' durability helps him go all the way to get either a controversial draw or win like in the Botha/Foreman fights.