Briggs was an athletic fighter in the 90's , Byrd wasn't. 88-93 Foreman would have knocked Briggs out going by how he did when he was almost 50. I would say it was impossible for anybody to think they could beat Foreman in the pocket , let alone a guy who had the punch power of a welter weight.
I’ll go with Chris Byrd by a decision which seems to be the overwhelming consensus. But the possibility of Foreman stopping him with something big isn’t out of the question.
The thing I don't like about Briggs highlights is it actually highlights nothing. When was the first ranked opponent he actually knocked out?
Well let's be fair. Briggs was a pretty potent puncher. He had power, that's for sure. But footwork etc ... no.
I argue with a ratio like that against the people it was against. As far as I can tell Briggs only ever knocked out one ranked fighter in his whole career and that was Lyakhovic in the 12th round. Out of the other 20 or so years he was a professional heavyweight, he never scored a significant knockout. I truly madly deeply believe his power is a myth.
Botha got saved by the bell, Lewis got stunned, and he and Wlad were the only two to stop Mercer. His power was real. His gas tank was no good.
What you're criticizing is his opposition. And you'd have a point there. In general it wasn't very good. On the other hand, my eyes don't lie to me. I can see the guy packs a whallop. The fact that he wasn't able to capitalize on it at the highest levels is due to his deficiencies in other areas - footwork, stamina, defence. Basically, he wasn't rounded enough as a boxer or athletic enough to cash in on his power.
Exactly. Botha and Lewis have both been knocked out by people who aren't necessarily vaunted for their power. As for Mercer, he was decrepit in the Briggs fight.