Hasim Rahman vs Shannon Briggs

Rahman would probably settle in to jabbing Briggs’ face off.

 

You're supposed to put rocks in cannons. Not sure how either one is supposed to win.

Either one is possible. I think a slugfest favors Briggs since he is larger, more durable, and might hit a little harder. Rahman would do better in a moderately paced boxing match since he has the better jab and fundamentals.

Hard to predict, but I slightly favor Rahman to win high difficulty. Maybe a 7 rounds to 5 win. I think it's inevitable that it becomes an ugly sloppy match with both guys gassing by the 9th round or so as both could be very aggressive and lacking in defense.

 

I think Rahman could survive a slugfest vs Briggs, Rahman survived a war vs Sanders after he tired out. And as you know Briggs's stamina is awful because of his asthma.

Honestly I see Rahman winning both ways if its boxing match or a slugfest personally.

 

Rahman UD in a probably wild 1 or 2 rounds that settled into a lackadaisical rounds 3-10. Wouldn't bet money on it and a KO win by Briggs is also a possibility but the longer it goes you have to think the chances for Briggs get less and less.

 

I fancy Rahman too. A bit more skilled than Briggs and he proved against Sanders that at his best, he could walk through a volcano for the win. Briggs obviously always dangerous but i think he's maybe got a few less weapons in his armoury.

 

Sanders wasn't a 2 fisted threat like Briggs.

I agree Rahman survived some wars, but he wasn't hard to hit, nor was Rahman some granite chinned guy. He got blasted out by Tua, Lewis, Maskaev, etc. Rahman also had to get off the floor to win against Sanders. I'm just saying if it's a slugfest, I wouldn't be betting on a guy who went down so many times and was KOd 6x. If Rahman makes it past rounds 5-7, he might take over with his superior stamina.

 

The thing is though Tua stopped Rahman on dubious stoppage and that was late in the fight. Maskaev seemed to have Rahman's number, but even his 2 stoppages over Rahman were in the 2nd half of the fight. And Sanders is probably even more dangerous than Briggs early on in a fight, for his Southpaw stance and quick hands.

Briggs to my knowledge never stopped any notable Heavyweights in the 1st half of a fight, he has a high KO ratio but doesn't really have any notable stoppages against any known names. Apart from an ancient Mercer and Liakhovich in a horrible fight.

I mean I guess it's possible that Briggs maybe could pull it out in the 1st half of the fight, but my money would be on Rahman personally.

 

Mercer is way more durable than Rahman and Liakhovich actually hurts your argument since that's a rare example of Briggs stopping a world class opponent late.

Briggs dropped Lewis early but got sloppy and Lewis was too skilled for him and quickly turned things around with his elite skill, something he won't have to worry about with Rahman. Lewis even went as far as to say that Briggs was the hardest hitter he fought. Food for thought.

 

Mercer at stage in his career was certainly not the tank he was in the 90s. He was 40+ and completely finished as a fighter, theres also rumours that Mercer took a dive but I won't go into that.

Liakhovich/Briggs is one of the worst fights in history, both fighters had no output and looked like they were going to collapse at any moment.

Briggs never dropped Lewis he stunned him at the end of the 1st round, and that was pretty much his only moment before Lewis took control in the 3rd round.

Anytime Briggs stepped up to the next level he was found out, he should've lost to an almost 50 year old Foreman who was going life and death with Savarese. He was lucky to get a dubious draw vs Botha, was stopped in 3 rounds vs Wilson, lost to Sedrick Fields, lost to Jameel McCline.

I personally think Shannon Briggs is very overrated and his record is heavily inflated, I'm not saying I think Rahman is some great fighter. But i think hes a better fighter than Briggs overall.

 

If I were forced to choose I would slightly favor Briggs but not with huge confidence

 

Obviously Mercer was past his prime but he was still durable and was always way more durable than Rahman. Briggs was past his prime too so it cancels itself out.

Liakhovich was tired and ready to collapse because Briggs was the one punching him. A late round KO is a late round KO.

He did drop Lewis. The only thing keeping Lewis up was the ropes. Just because the ref didn't start the count doesn't mean it wasn't a down.

I am not saying Briggs has an amazing resume but neither does Rahman. They're close to the same level, B level or so. Briggs at his best was maybe B-, Rahman a B. I agree Briggs was lucky to beat Foreman but we're not comparing resumes we're comparing h2h abilities and Briggs does have some advantages like his size, durability, raw power, and body shots. This won't be an easy fight for Rahman whatsoever and if it becomes a brawl Rahman will have to dig deep to win (and he may not win).

Not sure who on earth is "overrating" Briggs, most people in this forum dislike him and rare him rather low.

 

Rahman by decision. All he has to do is survive the first 3 rounds, then he would probably jab Briggs until he fell over.

 

I think Briggs does get a bit overrated due to his record, and on the outside it looks impressive but really there isn't much substance there.

Honestly Rahman had the jab and the right hand, and I see both them weapons being key for Rahman over Briggs. I'm not sure if you've seen Botha vs Briggs but Botha couldn't miss Briggs with the simple jab/right hand combo.

Overall I would rate Briggs slightly higher if hes stamina was better, because he was does have some qualities like power and decent athleticism ? but his stamina is actually one of the worst out of any known Heavyweight that I know of. Although that's not his fault because of his asthma.

But overall unless Briggs gets Rahman out of the in the first 3 rounds, I think it's an up hill battle for him from that point on. And the only fighter to stop Rahman early in his prime was a pissed off ATG looking for revenge.

 

Briggs has a live chance to catch him with a left hook and put his lights on. But I pick Rahman by decision.