George Foreman vs Shannon Briggs 1 Briggs 2 Foreman 3 Foreman 4 Foreman 5 Foreman 6 Briggs 7 Briggs 8 Foreman 9 Foreman 10 Briggs 11 Briggs 12 Foreman 115-113 Foreman I just rewatched this fight i thought it was a fairly close fight personally, Foreman won most of the early rounds being the effective aggressor. And constantly backing up Briggs with the jab, Briggs comeback and won some of the middle rounds out punching Foreman who seemed to take rounds 6 and 7 off. Foreman responded well in rounds 8 and 9 with his effective aggression out punching Briggs, the 8th round especially Foreman landed alot of hard punches and it was by far his best round. But Briggs also responded well in rounds 10 and 11 outpunching Foreman on the inside. The 12th round i thought was competitive Foreman started off the round very well, maybe sensing the fight was kind of close that he needed a strong 12th round, but Briggs comeback fairly well in the last minute or so but i don't think it was enough. Overall i think at a stretch this fight could of been scored a draw, but i don't think there's anyway you could have Briggs winning. Especially not by the scores of 117-113, 116-112, like the 2 judges had it. I think they gave the younger man a gift decision, as they couldn't see Foreman fighting any of the other belt holders, so probably thought just best to get him out of the sport and let Briggs fight Lewis. So there could be a unification because no way Foreman would fight Lewis lets be honest.
Briggs "earned" the fight by getting knocked out by Darroll Wilson the previous year and having asthma. The GF team did their research. From memory (haven't watched it in awhile), Briggs was too quick and out boxed GF until the asthma would take his energy away. Another well researched opponent for GF, but SB was tougher than expected, he didn't get knocked out and the asthma didn't affect him to the point that he couldn't out quick GF.
Yeah Foreman's list of opponents during that period was hardly murderers row, and Foreman also got close decisions vs Savarese and Schulz. So i'd agree with majority that Foreman deserved to win vs Briggs, but with the other decisions he benefitted from, i think it all evened itself out in the end, and Foreman losing to Briggs was probably best for the sport. As Foreman clearly wasn't interested in unifying, or fighting any real dangerous contenders at that time.
I watched that fight again very recently. There is no way I can agree with taking a Lineal Heavyweight Champion's title away based on what I saw. I know. George should have fought Lennox Lewis or retired, but I still think he should have retained his title vs. Briggs.
iirc I had Foreman winning but only just. It was a closer fight than those claiming robbery say it was.
As I recall it should have went to Foreman. It was another fight where Briggs was hanging on as I remember and got a gift when the decision was read.
George certainly deserved the decision, pretty cleanly ... the effective aggressor through out .. certainly politics to put him out to pasture may have been part of it .. it was actually a good ending for George as he never complained and packed it in .. he ended his second career with never being off his feet and while he avoided the best caliber of the biggest punchers he did fight Holyfield , Morrison, Cooper, Moorer , Cooney and Briggs ...
There were hundreds of worse decisions in the 1990s and I had the fight fairly close (116-113 IIRC). However, I do still think it's a robbery as there's no way Briggs won 6 rounds.
Perhaps but far fewer world famous, beloved, cross over icons receive such bad decision losses in highly televised bout. That's why it's still discussed.
