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Paul Briggs
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WBC #1 light heavyweight Paul 'Hurricane' Briggs has returned home to Australia from his USA base to prepare for his May 21 bout against unbeaten Pole Tomasz Adamek for the vacant WBC title.
Former champion Antonio Tarver relinquished the belt to face fellow Roy Jones Jr. conqueror Glengoffe Johnson in December last year.
29-year-old Briggs has seen his world title shot repeatedly pushed back due to fluctuations within the division and scheduling difficulties. The fight will now take place on the undercard of the WBO championship bout between Lamon Brewster and Andrew 'Foul Pole' Golota at the United Centre in Chicago that is being promoted by Don King.
Yet while many boxers find themselves discouraged by delays in the lead up to bouts, the affable former kickboxing world champion is relaxed and confident as he bides his time while waiting for his title shot.
"You get frustrated for a day," admitted Briggs, "then you just get up and get on with it."
Still, it can't be easy knowing that you could already be world champion with a lucrative title defence under your belt already if things had run more smoothly.
"It's the game and there's a lot of guys out there who have waited a hell of a lot longer than say six to eight months," said Briggs philosophically. "And it's sort of beyond everyone's control. There's been date changes and there's TV and there's probably another twenty other boxers who are being affected in the same way. You've just got to keep training hard and stay focused."
Briggs's opponent however is reportedly less than happy with the enforced delay.
"It's great to see that my opponent just doesn't have the same attitude [that I do], it's really affecting him and he's having all sorts of problems over it," revealed the charismatic Jack Mosley trainer fighter. "It's good to see, for me, because it shows me a lot about his character and just how much pressure he's going to be able to handle in the ring when we get in there."
With twenty stoppage wins out of his total of twenty-eight bouts, it's easy to assume that Adamek can crack a bit. Not surprisingly, Briggs has a different take on the matter.
"He's sort of overrated really, his record on paper," said Briggs, 23-1 (17).
"Look at all the fights he's had, some of the guys it's purely been their lack of condition that has caused the knockout. It's not really him hitting the guys on the chin and rendering them unconscious, it's just that fact that they can't keep going because they can't breathe anymore because they're not in good knick. That's really where a lot of those knockouts have come from. I've seen him drop a guy once with an actual punch but apart from that, he definitely doesn't have one punch power."
While there is no doubt Adamek is a well-schooled boxer who does many of the little things right, Briggs doesn't believe the 28-year-old has fought anyone approaching his caliber.
"He definitely hasn't fought anyone with my power or tenaciousness or relentlessness," said Briggs, "so it will be a big step up for him. But in saying that, some guys can do it; they can step up and technique-wise, he is probably one of the best fighters that I'll have fought so far."
Briggs's last fight against 6-foot-5 Croatian southpaw Stipe Drews back in September of last year. In one of the dirtiest fights witnessed on these shores in recent years, Briggs was forced to endure knees to the groin, headbutts and head wrenching in the clinches after dropping Drews with a left hook in the sixth. The composure Briggs displayed in the face of this ongoing adversity spoke volumes about his character as he methodically broke down the lanky 'Spiderman', dropping him twice more before earning a unanimous decision win.
The Drews fight marked the first time Mosley and Briggs had worked together in the ring and while there were some teething problems, Briggs believes that they have gelled well since.
"Before the Drews fight we'd been working together for probably four or five months and things were really clicking in the gym, but you've really got to be able to use the knowledge that you have and to be able to do that it takes a little longer than four or five months to be able to get in the ring and actually make things work," admitted Briggs.
"You can do things in the gym, but then when you are under pressure in the ring that's when it really matters. Now that we've been working together for almost a year that is starting to happen, I feel, anyway… I just can't wait to get in there to be honest because I really feel like a far more complete boxer and a lot more slick. My defense is impeccable now and my punching power is a hell of a lot harder now. I'm more than just a one dimensional power puncher now.
Briggs says that the extra pop he has achieved in his already heavy hands under Molsey's tutelage has taken a toll on his mitts.
"It's really hard on my hands because we tape them up just like a fight every time I train and my hands are still really feeling it under all the wraps," he said.
Briggs is adamant that ring rust won't be a factor when he finally gets his opportunity for fight for a world title despite being out of the ring for nine months.
"No, I don't really believe in that," he said. "I think that's a mental thing, ring rust. I'm improving and I'm getting great sparring in the States and I'm going to continue that here in Australia. I'll be going back to high altitude at Big Bear for six weeks for some top quality sparring again and as long as I'm improving and I'm putting it together in the gym… Kostya just showed that rust is really just a frame of mind and I very much agree with that. It really comes down to what you perceive yourself to be mentally before you get in there."
"He's got a really, really, really good jab. Really sharp, and he just keeps it pumping out all night. Some guys can win fights just with their jab if they use it properly. He has got a great jab and I've just got to nullify that, and that's about it. Nothing about this guy worries me."
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2005
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Interview by Anthony Cocks, Site Editor (March 1, 2005)
