From the Show Sports Youtube Channel, Shannon Briggs weighs in for his fight in Panama. It's a funny moment as Briggs first seems to be humoured by his opponent, then decides to stay classy by grabbing the opponent by the throat. A notoriously edgy Roberto Duran (in his heyday, at least) then gets between them, enjoying Briggs' show and getting a hug. Briggs had been yelling "Let's go, champ!" as he has been, to Wladimir Klitschko, who isn't there. Then he says "I'm with the champ!" as he puts his arm around Duran. It's pretty amusing.
Shannon will fight veteran Hungarian Zoltan Petranyi, with 21 losses and 14 of them by knockout. He is coming off of a KO3 defeat to a fighter with 5 fights under his belt. Petranyi was stopped by Denis Boytsov in 2005. Boytsov was outpointed by Alex Leapai in 2013. Briggs calls Leapai a bum and says Wlad should fight him instead of "bums" like Leapai in 2014. It feels like some type of a circle is now complete!
From a particularly ironic paragraph of an article by Carlo Rotella, in The New York Times, leading up to Shannon Briggs' 2007 clash with Sultan Ibragimov, about Briggs' hyping his 2006 fight with Sergei/Siarhei Liakhovich: "Briggs said, “I don’t get caught up in the race thing,” but he told me
more than once that promoters and cable networks favor the Russian
heavies because they’re white. He also enjoyed retelling the story of
how he’d spread the false rumor that Liakhovich, known as the White
Wolf, had used a racial slur. Briggs had been playing a prefight head
game, trying to put his opponent on the defensive. At their postfight
press conference, Liakhovich, plainly upset and still dazed, earnestly
assured Briggs that he had never called him any such thing. “I smiled,”
Briggs said, “and I said: ‘I know. I made it up.’ He was, like,
‘Whuuuh?’ ”
This article is something beyond an article about Shannon Briggs with some ironic humour. It expands into the territory of an American philosophical breakdown, with Shannon Briggs, perhaps among the most unfit fighters to carry such a burden at such a time, becoming the focal point. The article illustrates a major cultural shift in the global sport of boxing and an odd kind of analysis of why the shift was taking place. I may write an article of my own about this piece, actually, because I find it so interesting. Either way, it's important to remember and beware that Shannon Briggs will make
you racist if you're not careful. He's clever like that. Watch out, folks!
Work that bag, Basement Gym Boxing
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In a bizarre choice of stunts, Shannon Briggs came to Wladimir Klitschko's training camp for Alex Leapai, shouting that he trains there too, that everywhere Klitschko goes, he goes, that Klitschko's been fighting bums, and, of course, he wants the fight with Wladimir, still. Briggs has not had a fight since 2010, when he took a historically remarkable 12-round beating from Vitali Klitschko, compared to Larry Holmes VS Tex Cobb, for horribly one-sided, distance fights in heavyweight title history. He was hospitalised. He hasn't won a fight against a world class opponent since his also historically remarkable come-from-behind 12th-round knockout of Siarhei Liakhovich in 2007, for a major title. He was dominated by Sultan Ibragimov in the interim, who Wladimir then dominated thoroughly and sent into retirement in a hyped stinker. Shannon also makes this move while Wladimir has a fight scheduled with his WBO mandatory, Alex Leapai, and has an IBF mandatory, Kubrat Pulev lined up afterward, barring a large upset against Leapai.
Briggs took off and threw his shoe at Wladimir, who never bothered to stand up while having his hands wrapped, in this video posted by Pound 4 Pound TV:
Klitschko and Briggs have somewhat of a history, as Briggs was once Klitschko's likely opponent around 2006-2007, before being passed over. Wladimir continued to win, while Briggs' career fell off badly, as outlined earlier. Such a strange move might make some wonder if Briggs has lost it. I think he most likely made a calculated move to put his name out there, because publicity tends to pay off, no matter how laughable it is. That's the boxing circus. Does Briggs really want the fight? Well, for doing nothing but having a name and a lot of bluster, I'm sure he does. But does he want it bad enough to do the notoriously small amount it takes to become a mandatory heavyweight challenger these days? Apparently not, because he simply hasn't.
Just the same, I'm slightly appreciative that Briggs made any excitement whatsoever, because the mandatory the WBO are forcing down our throats isn't doing the job for the heavyweight division. That's not a knock on Alex Leapai, but the WBO only. Leapai had a very respectable upset. It's the eliminator that stunk. And that falls on the absurd choices set by the WBO in this particular instance. So, good for Briggs, who is now 42-years-of-age and inactive for over three years. Still making headlines without actually fighting? Not bad a bad move, all things considered. Unless Klitschko sues him for attempted shoe assault, of course. The shoe may have been a step too far.
