Was Shannon Briggs ever good?

Certainly unexpected.

 

Definitely hurt his foot, as he fell had his toes tucked under his weight, his whole 250+ pounds pulling his instep.
Possible breakage, at least a severe ligament tear, I imagine.

The hazards of having a glass jaw.

 

He went noodle legged.

 

Well, other fighters have looked uninspired and yet managed to pull the fight out of the fire at the last moment. Weaver-Tate immediately springs to mind. Bailey-Jones was another example of that. Both fighters received some credit for doing so. Briggs should receive some credit for showing a bit of resolve when it looked like he would lose another fight that he was perfectly capable of winning. His performance prior to that point wasn't great by any real stretch of the imagination, but he could just as easily have folded up shop and gone home.

You said it before...this comes down to how one defines what a good fighter is. If a fighter takes two rounds off an ATG, and puts them in a bit of trouble- and if they find a way to defeat a favored titleholder after being completely written off, then that;s an indicator that there's some quality there. Not a great fighter, but certainly not bad, either.

 

I guess you could say he was "okay". The one thing I will say in his favor is that his punching power was definitely NOT unduly hyped. For all his limitations Shannon Briggs hit hard. Was he a talented and skilled puncher? No.. But when it comes to raw power he probably hit as hard as anybody.

 

No. Briggs was a fringe contender at best. His biggest claim to fame was probably the first round of the Lewis fight, where he caught Lewis off balance with a big left hook, and appeared to hurt Lewis a lot more than he really did.

After that, Lewis beat the living **** outta him.

Briggs had power, and above average handspeed for a heavyweight, but he was never more than a fringe contender quality wise.

 

When he came into the pro's, Briggs was flamboyant, recited poetry and was light on his feet!

Yawn.

 

The expression "light on his feet," implies something else in the UK,it indicates you are a "friend of Dorothy's"

 

I think Briggs was a better fighter when he was lean and trim as opposed to the muscular hulk he acme later in his career. But overall, I'd say Briggs was a good heavyweight. His punching power and hand speed made him a threat despite his overall limitations.

 

Briggs was heavily hyped by mike marley who was his manager early in his career too. He was also known as madonnas friend too, in short he lacked the mental toughness to be successful in boxing. Yes, he was kayoed on the night of the young heavyweights back in the mid nineties, if my memory serves me right!!

 

no he wasnt any good in fact prime 4 prime larry donald would have beat him so would jeremy williams..he had good connections with michael marley and ray mercers manager who got him hooked up with teddy atlas but in reality he was giuded very carefully early in his career he got knocked in sparring by bruce seldon in the days and lou savarese also thats why they put him in with cruiserweight built heavyweight darrol wilson and darrol wilson exposed shannon briggs to what he really was A FRAUD/DOUCHBAG/AND A NEVER WAS...........END OF STORY

 

Contender on a good day, but never really a championship caliber fighter.... Robbed Foreman and Botha... Lost to Lewis, Vitali, McCline and Ibragimov... was getting schooled by Liakhovich before one of the biggest chokes in heavyweight boxing history occurred in the dying second s of the fight. Lost to less than stellar guys like Sedreck Fields and Darroll Wilson.

In analyzing his career any educated fan will come to the conclusion that Briggs was lucky to win a title... Most of his success was based on sheer luck and nothing more. Without the robbery of Foreman, and White wolf choking in the dying seconds of their fight, Briggs never would have come close to earning gold, suffice to say he's one of the most undeserving belt holders ever, certainly the worst lineal champ ever.

 

I watched and scored Botha vs Briggs just now and it was a great fight. Botha put on a masterpiece even though he got heavily knocked down in round 8, a round he was winning before the knockdown.
Botha should have won that 10 rounder by at least 3 points. I had it 6 rounds to 3 for Botha with one round even - the 8th should almost be a 10-9 round because Botha won it apart from the knockdown.
Botha was hitting Briggs with everything - fast right hands, combinations; he also showed his slick defensive movements.

 

Marc ratner, was his backer if i remember rightly!!