By "prime Briggs" you mean Shannon from 97/98? If they were to meet in that time, I'd say Tua by KO in the middle rounds. That version of Briggs was naive, he got KO-ed by Lennox and Darroll Wilson, I have no doubt that Tua would have done similar damage to him.
Yeah, that's the weird thing about Cannon - his physical peak & tactical peak are completely different. When he was in his physical prime years (late 90s), he fought like a caveman with almost zero gameplan. That changed later, but when that happened he was at maybe 70% of that physical potential.
This could go two ways. One - Tua starts fast and engages Briggs in a shootout. Tua's better handspeed, straighter shots and better chin result in an early KO for Tua. Two - Briggs uses his big height and reach advantages to stay outside, jab and try to stink out the joint. In this secenario, Tua pursues and is largely ineffective. However, Brigg's punch output dwindles to near nothing and he gets tired. Tua explodes late for a TKO. .
I would much rather have my money on Briggs, who at least sometimes prevailed in his biggest fights. Limited as he was, he probably had enough power to get Tua’s respect, and enough physical advantages to outbox him.
Briggs UD. Tua was a very short 5'9" man, who outside of one fight, didn't like to get hit. Put it this way Rhaman beat Tua once and was robbed, and in the other fight, fouled as Tua landed after the bell and lost. Briggs hit a lot harder than Rahman, and was a better boxer. In his second career, Briggs took a much better punch.
