Foreman got robbed big time. I think this is the reason he quit boxing especially once his grill started taking off. Briggs was never anything special. The loss against Wilson showed what his heart was made of when the going got tough.
Yeah but it seemed he approached most of his fights as four rounders. He went for the kill and then faded badly. When Teddy Atlas trained him, he said the guy didnt train hard, and had an entourage a mile long. From shoe shiners to boom box operators. Maybe it was the asthma thing, maybe it was poor conditioning..
He always cops heat but I can't say he ever bored me, atleast the old briggs didnt. Especially that Lennox Fight. He has good style aswell, definitely Brooklyn.(i think)
I always thought Briggs was somewhat entertaining. He didn't deserve the decision against Foreman, like others have said but I was glad he got the nod due to Foreman holding the title hostage at that point. Briggs would rate pretty low on the all time lineal champions list. I would put him ahead of someone like Braddock but not many more. Though I do think he'd run over some of the smaller lineal champs in history like Burns, Hart, Braddock and such. He did have a lot of early knock outs it seems. Not many heavyweights scored more first round knock outs than Briggs, so he can hang his hat on that as well as being a lineal champ.
Is Briggs part of the deathless and regal lineage from John L Sullivan onwards? Yes. There is no judicial review in this game. If his win is questionable then Im afraid that it stands just as every previous questionable decision in the heavyweight lineage stands. The lineage of the heavyweight title has never been fair but it has always been consistant on the official decision for a fight standing. Schulz probably deserved to join the imortal lineage but it didn't happen unfortunately. If Foreman had gone out that way it would have been better for the sport generaly.
The thing about lineage is that people have to either totaly accept it or totaly reject it. As long as people try to navigate a middle road between the two I will impose the technicalities of lineage upon them in a teadious manner.
You have to know the background. Having that title did little to change the fact that Briggs was a mediocre fighter, therefore that title hold little merit with me. Im sure Briggs doesnt feel to good about either after he saw the fight.
History overtakes facts like that. Max Schmeling said that he would never consider himself a real champion after he won the title against Sharkey on a low blow. Jack Sharkey probably didnt feel too good after he saw the rematch where he won the title from Schmeling on a ridiculous decision. Above all, by what authourity was that fight for th title in the first place? History clearly overtook the facts here.
I think were thinking the same thing? Nowadays by what authority does any fighter deserve a shot at the title? There is no box off to become ranked in the first place, no nationally run commission as in football, basketball or baseball. A for profit organization decides who is worthy to fit into their top ten. They collect a fee to fight for their title. The fee is based on the purse of the fighter, maybe thats why Mike Tyson becaome the #1 contender in every organization when he came out of prison. They appoint their own judges, and the president and his cronies fly in and stay at suites to watch the fight. They have dinner with the promoter in a five star restraunt. I remember seeing Don King having dinner with Jose Suliamon right in the host hotel of a fight. Conflict of interest? It will always be up to the boxing fans, to sift through the garbage and write the history books on bum decisions and corruption, only problem is it becomes so subjective, it will never be a perfect system.
My thoughts are that, like him or not, like the decision or not, Briggs was the Linear Heavyweight Champion of the World. His right to that title cannot be seriously questioned in my mind. :bbb
As Janitor points out, it really depends on how serious you take lineage. If you are sold on it, Briggs was King... I was, and I will defend Briggs right to lineage until my death. But post Lewis, I realize the absurdity of it, and can see no reason why any fighter has a proper claim to the lineage Heavyweight Championship of the World.
For all AUstralian fans unaware, ONEHD is showing the Briggs - Foreman fight on KO-TV Monday at 10.30? Nice co-incidence with this thread. I havent even seen the fight with Foreman *shamed*