Briggs vs. Foreman

Briggs fought against lineal champion George Foreman on November 22, 1997, at the Trump Taj Majal Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Coming into the fight, Briggs sported a 29–1 record with 24 of his wins coming by way of knockout; collectively, he fought a total of 86 rounds. However, despite his record, his one loss had been a third-round knockout against Darroll "Doin' Damage" Wilson on HBO the previous year which halted his momentum and hurt his status as one of the premier up-and-coming heavyweights.^[10] However, realizing that a win over Foreman would get him back into contention, Briggs vowed to be ready for the fight stating that he was "confident that I can go in and fight for 12 rounds and win a decision."^[11]

After capturing the WBA and IBF titles from Michael Moorer late in 1994, George Foreman forfeited both titles but retained the lineal championship and successfully defended that crown (as well as the lowly regarded WBU heavyweight title) against then-undefeated prospects Crawford Grimsley and Lou Savarese. Following his win over Savarese, Foreman fought Briggs.

The fight was controversial as Briggs ultimately picked up the victory by way of majority decision. Through the course of the fight, Foreman landed more punches and had a higher percentage of his punches land than Briggs. Foreman landed 284 of his 488 punches for a 58% success rate while Briggs landed 45% of his punches, going 223 for 494. Foreman made $5 million, whilst Briggs received a $400,000 purse.

Foreman spent much of the fight as the aggressor while Briggs spent a lot of the fight retreating. In the later rounds Foreman's power punches seemed to take a toll on the younger Briggs, as he began slowing down and all but abandoned his tactic of moving away from Foreman and was hit from some heavy shots as a result. In the 12th and final round, Foreman tried hard for a knockout victory and was able to break Briggs' nose but was unable to score a knockdown. As a result, the result went to the judge's scorecards.^[12][13]

One judge scored the fight a draw at 114–114, while the other two had the fight scored 116–112 and 117–113 in favor of Briggs, giving him both the majority decision win and the lineal heavyweight title.^[14]

Briggs vs. Lewis

After Lennox Lewis successfully defended his WBC title in a dominating first-round knockout victory over Andrew Golota, he agreed to defend his title against the winner between Briggs-Foreman in the elimination bout organized by the WBC to determine who would become Lewis' next opponent. Though Foreman's promoters protested the result and Lewis instead turned his attention to a potential unification match with Evander Holyfield, Lewis ultimately agreed to defend his WBC championship against lineal champion Briggs in a fight billed as March Badness.^[15][16]

In the fifth round, Lewis knocked Briggs down for the third time with a powerful right hook at 1:09 into the round. Briggs lay flat on his back for five seconds but got back up at the count of eight and continued with the fight. After Briggs collapsed to the mat following a missed left hook, referee Frank Cappuccino stopped the fight and awarded Lewis the victory by technical knockout.^[17] Lewis earned $4 million compared to Briggs $1 million. In 2015, Lewis stated that Briggs had the fastest hands and best punching power of any opponent he ever faced.^[18]

Briggs vs. Liakhovich

Briggs won the WBO heavyweight title when he knocked out Sergei Liakhovich in the last round of a November 4, 2006, matchup. After a lackluster 11 rounds which left the Arizona crowd restless, Briggs was losing on all three judges' scorecards 106–103, 106–103, and 105–104. Briggs pressed the fight in the 12th round and knocked Liakhovich down. Briggs subsequently trapped him on the ropes and continued his assault, knocking Liakhovich out of the ring. Liakhovich landed on a ringside table, and the referee stopped the bout. If the referee had allowed the fight to continue after the second knockdown and Liakhovich had come back into the ring within 20 seconds, it would have resulted in a draw. The official time was 2:59.^[23]

Briggs vs. Ibragimov

In his first title defense Shannon Briggs was to face Sultan Ibragimov on March 10, 2007; however, Briggs pulled out of the fight because he was diagnosed with "aspiration pneumonia." The fight was rescheduled fifty days later in Atlantic City on June 2, 2007, with Briggs losing in a unanimous decision 117–111, 119–109, and 115–113. After winning the first round, Briggs slowed down and did not have the aggressiveness, accuracy or stamina to compete with Ibragimov. At 273 pounds, Briggs was as heavy as he had been in his career. Briggs entered having won 12 consecutive fights prior to this and announced his retirement immediately following the bout.^[24]

Miscellaneous fights

Briggs returned in 2009 and scored his twenty-ninth first-round knockout against Marcus McGee. After the bout, Briggs tested positive for a banned substance, and was suspended. The result of the bout was changed to 'No Contest'. Briggs manager Ivalyo Gotzev, stated Briggs was on medication to control his asthma. "He's not a steroid user or a drug user. We're consulting with his physicians and seeing how to make the proper adjustments to make sure this doesn't happen again." The New York State Athletic Commission suspended Briggs for 90 days.^[25][26] Briggs fought three times in 2010 before fighting Vitali Klitschko. He knocked out Rafael Pedro, Dominique Alexander and Rob Calloway all inside the first round of their respective fights.

Briggs vs. Vitali Klitschko

On October 16, 2010, Briggs fought for the WBC heavyweight title against Vitali Klitschko in the O₂ World at Hamburg, the fight billed as 'Thunderstorm'. During the fight Briggs took a severe beating and after the fight, went down in his quarters. Briggs lost a clear unanimous decision 120–107, 120–107, and 120–105.^[27] Brought to a hospital, Briggs was initially treated in intensive care and found to have suffered a left orbital fracture, a broken nose, and a torn left biceps.^[28]

Briggs vs. Zarate

On May 3, 2016, it was announced that Briggs would fight 6’7-inch former European heavyweight champion, Alexander Dimitrenko (38-2, 27 KOs). His opponent was changed a few days before the fight to Jakov Gospic (17-14, 12 KOs)^[35] and then to Emilio Ezequiel Zarate (20-16-3, 11 KOs).^[36] Briggs stopped Zarate in the first round of a scheduled 10 round bout with devastating body shots. The fight was stopped at 2:22 of the round. The win for Briggs had meant he could be fighting David Haye next.^[37] The card, which was shown live on free-to-air Dave was watched by over 1 million viewers.^[38]

Despite winning on the undercard, a fight between Briggs and Haye didn't materialize. Brigg's continued to call out Haye, asking him to honor his end of the agreement. Briggs also chased Haye down in Brooklyn when both were in attendance for the Frampton vs. Santa Cruz fight.^[39][40][41] In October, Haye spoke out about the fight not taking place due to the fact that Briggs wanted the fight to be on ppv, “Because the fight can’t happen on pay-per-view ... I like people thinking I’m running from him and ducking him because when I do get in the ring with him, which I really think I will do, I think it will make it a bigger fight. But at the moment the fight can’t happen because he will only fight me if the fight is on pay-per-view. I would fight him on [UK terrestrial channel] DAVE, but he doesn't want to do that.”^[42]

WBA title mix

On November 2, 2016, the WBA ordered Briggs to fight Australian heavyweight Lucas Browne for the WBA regular title. The title became vacant after Browne defeated Ruslan Chagaev in March 2016 but was later stripped after he tested positive for drugs. The fight was ordered to take place before the end of 2016. The WBA and Browne came to a legal settlement which said he would fight for a world title next. Browne was due to fight Fres Oquendo, who hadn't fought since 2014, however that fight could not be made due to Oquendo recovering from an injury. The WBA ordered the winner of this bout to fight Oquendo in a mandatory defense within 120 days.^[43][44]

On November 22, VADA informed the WBC that Browne had failed a second drug test in the space of six months. After being tested positive for banned substance clenbuterol ahead of his March fight with Ruslan Chagaev, Browne this time tested positive for ostarine, a stamina-increasing substance.^[45]

On December 26, 2016 Alexander Ustinov's manager Vladimir Hryunov announced that he would be fighting for the WBA 'Regular' title on February 25, 2017, against either Briggs or Fres Oquendo. Oquendo's trainer Nate Jones later confirmed a fight with Briggs was in the works.^[46][47] On January 4, 2017, the WBA ordered for a deal to be reached between Briggs and Oquendo within 30 days or they would force a purse bid. Briggs told Sky Sports he wanted the fight to take place in the UK, after his increasing fan base, mostly due to Briggs spending a lot of time there pursuing a fight with David Haye.^[48][49]

A deal wasn't reached by February 2 and the WBA ordered a purse bid to take place on February 13, 2017. Although some promoters were interested in the fight, there were issues raised around the minimum bid of $1 million, being too high.^[50] A bid of $400,000 was made by The Heavyweight Factory representative Henry Rivalta, on behalf of Briggs however not being valid due to not meeting the minimum requirement. The WBA ordered another purse bid to take place on February 23.^[51]

On February 23, Square Ring Promotions and Hitz Entertainment Corporation announced that a deal had been reached for the Briggs vs. Oquendo fight. CEO of Square Ring Promotions John Wirt told World Boxing News, “We are really excited that we were able to reach an agreement with Kris Lawrence and Henry Rivalta of The Heavyweight Factory.”^[52] On March 16, Briggs announced via his Social Media accounts, the fight would take place June 3, 2017 at the Hard Rock Hollywood in Florida.^[53] The fight was being billed as "Backyard Brawl".^[54]

Cancelled world title fight and ban

On May 21, 2017, it was reported that Briggs had failed a drug test. He tested positive for 'dramatically increased levels of testosterone'. It was revealed that Briggs' collected sample had almost 8 times the regular amount of testosterone for a man of his age and weight.^[55] It was said that the fight would be called off, although no official decision was made. The sample was taken on May 14 and tested on May 16. It was also said that the fight was likely to be postponed after Briggs promoters failed to secure TV rights for the fight.^[56] A day later, Hitz Boxing and The Heavyweight Factory announced the fight was officially off and they would not reschedule a new date.^[57]

On July 20, 2017, Briggs was suspended for six months by the WBA and is expected to lose his #3 position in the WBA rankings. He will also likely drop out of the top 15.^[58][59]