Shannon Briggs: The long road back
By Bobby Jones (Mach 23, 2006)  
Shannon ‘The Cannon’ Briggs
On March 6th, 2004 I was in attendance when Shannon ‘The Cannon’ Briggs knocked-out overmatched Jeff Pegues in less time then it took me to find my seat for the evening. Briggs was originally scheduled that night to take on Robert Davis. Davis might have had a little better chance against Briggs that night, but as good as Briggs looked for those 35 seconds leads me to believe whoever he stepped in the ring that night with was going down early.

That was Briggs’ 4th fight back after losing a unanimous decision to Jameel McCline nearly 2 years before that at Madison Square Garden. Briggs is now in the middle of a 10 fight, 10 straight knockout winning streak. Although The Cannon’s fight with Pegues was his 4th fight back, he didn’t really become extremely active to almost a year after that fight.

Since a year ago Briggs has fought 6 times, for a grand total of 18 rounds, a stretch comparable to when George Foreman made his comeback nearly 20 years ago. No, I’m not comparing Shannon Briggs with ‘Big’ George Foreman, but the opponents they have fought have both been on about the same level. Briggs’s best win since his comeback was against the aging Ray Mercer, a fight that a lot of people gave Mercer a chance to win. Briggs has also knocked out two guys with a combined record of 36-0-1 in Abraham Okine and Luciano Zolyone. Sure, they aren’t household names, but they are good confidence boosters to a man who once admitted to me that he hasn’t always had the desire to be the best fighter in the world, but according to him, that’s also changed.

It’s probably about time for Briggs to step up and fight a higher caliber fighter. After his frightening knockout of Dickie Ryan this past weekend he’s lined himself up a date with Samuel Peter, if the sanctioning bodies get their way. It’s no secret though that Briggs has had a desire to fight Peter for well over a year because it’s on some sort of boxing news wire everyday. I think the fight would be a great treat for the fans with two power punches swinging for the fences. I’m assuming Peter would be the favorite on paper, but we also have to remember Briggs can box a little. He proved that when he beat (disputably, I agree) George Foreman by dancing around the ring. Not bad for a guy with 40 KO’s in his 46 wins.

Briggs is a breath of fresh air in a batch of heavyweights that have simply not been producing and hopefully he can add a little much needed drama and excitement to the division.
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