1923 Tommy Gibbons v 1998 Shannon Briggs

They were both top heavyweights, because they both got to top of their respective divisions.

That is good enough for me.

 

Ok, who would win a fight... Darkseid or Thanos

 

No, because Gibbons never held the lineal title.

He was however the Ring Magazine #2 contender.

It should also be mentioned, that nobody here to my recollection, has ever said that that they agreed with the decision of Foreman Briggs.

 

Ok. You seem to rate John Mugabi extremely high, i'd have to think "world class"? Definitely no legitimate wins over recognized contenders there.

 

I see that, giving dempsey it all makes him a solid HW contender.

But I am only seeking to confirm Briggs isnt, rather than Gibbons is.

 

I don't rate John Mugabi extremely high.

Mugabi's opposition was better than Briggs's.

We can sit here and tear down Mugabi for 30 pages, but we still wouldn't honestly be able to make his 25-0 (1986) as poor as Briggs at 29-1 (1998).
Whether Mugabi was "world class" or not, it makes no difference to Shannon Briggs.

My definition of world class may need adjusting if you're looking to pick holes. But Briggs falls short of world class, in my opinion. George Foreman was actually avoiding the world class heavyweights, by 1997 certainly. They were not bad fighters but I woudn't call Lou Savarese "world class" either.

As another poster noted, Briggs rarely - if ever - even tested himself against the fringe contender journeyman types. Almost always he was in with absolute tomato cans, knocking them over quickly, almost the same level Eric 'Butterbean' Esch would build his record with.

When Briggs stepped up beyond that level, he lost or needed a gift of some degree to get a draw or a win.
The only exception is the Liakhovich last-second KO, and Liakhovich himself has very little credentials too.

 

While I pick Briggs here based on big size disparity, I agree that Briggs wasn't elite HW by any means.

In his 23 years and 68 fights as a pro Briggs scored 3 wins over 'name' opponents.

1) 48 y.o. Foreman, with most people scored the fight for Foreman at least 7-5 (or 8-4). That Foreman had more trouble vs Savarese and Shulz.

2) 44 y.o. Ray Mercer, who was winning the fight and faked KO trying to get DQ win over Briggs. 2 years later Mercer lost to famous Derrick Rossy

3) Sergey Lykhovich. Came-from-behind last second KO win. And Lykhovich was never an elite fighter to begin with.

Also it should be noted that Briggs in his prime was KO'd in 3 by jorneyman Darroll Wilson and lost to another jorneyman Cedrick Fields. he also was comfortably outboxed by Francois Botha but got a gift. I scored the fight 96-92 for Botha.

Briggs had power and size, but his skills weren't impressive at all.

 

Don't even pretend believing in super athletic big men in the boxing universe isn't from reading too many comic books.

 

Shannon Briggs certainly had the physical appearance of a comic book hero.
Right down to the cartoonish hairstyle.

 

I don’t get it. You doubt that there have been super athletic big men in Boxing?