What kind of power has he got? High KO ratio, I know that. Has he put anyone down besides an old Mercer who had a good chin?
I believe he's got a lot of power. He staggered Lewis with a single left hook. He hurt Liakhovic badly with a single punch and knocked him out later also with only a few punches that landed clean. Compare that to Brewster, who hurt him also, but landed many, many more punches. I was suprised that Ibragimov took some flush shots from him. On the Mercer fight, i don't think that displays his power. He kept hitting Mercer behind the head (who was doing quite well, by the way) and the referee did nothing. The knockdown seemed more like Mercer saying "**** it, i don't need this" to me than something legit. I thought Briggs was going to get a point taken away (he punched Mercer behind the head before he went down), but instead he counted Mercer out. Briggs basically has 2 things going for him: tremendous power and handspeed. Other than that, he has a shitty defense, no stamina, no mobility and little skill, although he can counterpunch well. I also think his chin is not as bad as many people regard it to be.
Briggs is good at doubling up his shots too. His stamina can be chalked up to asthma though, Hearns style.
Briggs is still a good puncher, and was an even better puncher when his hands were faster. I wouldn't read too much into the Lewis shuffle (Briggs had his foot on Lewis's) but when Briggs planted his feet he could certainly hurt his opponents a lot. I think the Mercer knockdown was legitmate, although its status as a knockout was indeed the result of Mercer not wanting any more. Briggs was, at his best, a tall and strong boxer with good handspeed, excellent mobility for someone of his size, a solid set of whiskers, and plenty of pop in his punches. His weaknesses held him back: his defense was very lacking (which was why Foreman was able to connect so often) and he just didn't have the conditioning to fight at a tough pace in the same way that fitter giants (Lewis, Wlad, Vitali, even Buddy Baer and Primo Carnera) had. A big man without stamina is a punching bag waiting to be deployed.
