Briggs actually eats about 2-3 good solid punches right at the start of this bout and takes them well, he also much more fluid and lighter on his feet here. He was going to be heavily hyped and marketed right after the bout with Darroll Wilson when disaster struck. I remember i was invited to Mark Kriegel's first book signing for his debut novel Bless Me Father. Briggs was in attendance as was Teddy Atlas. Rumor flew around that Madonna was going to show as well with Briggs but she never appeared. About a month later the night of heavies appeared and Briggs was flattened.
According to boxrec, Briggs weighed only 205 lbs for this fight. He was obviously juiced beyond belief by the time he fought McCline, when he entered the ring at a pretty solid 268. His opponent here, John Basil Jackson, was 0-5 entering this fight, and ended up a career 4-75-2 (0 KOs). From the short time he was in there, he looked a little better offensively than I'd imagine a guy with that kind of record might look.
This is back when Shannon was yet the latest reiteration of Ali, light on his feet, speed first and reading poetry. By this time, it was embarrassing after so many years of failed attempts.
