Briggs is big (6ft 4ins, around 230lbs, or 16st 6lbs) and can punch, with 24 of his 29 wins coming by KO, against only one loss. But that loss was a shocker, a third-round collapse against Darroll Wilson, a much-smaller heavyweight who, although unbeaten, was not well-regarded. In his very next bout, Wilson was knocked out in one round by David Tua - so where does that put Briggs?:SIB
Such form guides can be misleading, but the harsh facts are that Briggs showed questionable character and a seeming inability to take a heavy shot when Wilson, after coming under heavy fire early, punched back at him.:scared
Hasim Rahman's co-manager, Bob Mittleman,
I call Briggs 'The Tin Man' [referring to The Wizard of Oz character]. He looks good but he's got a tinkle chin and no heart.
:SIB
And if Briggs starts to slow down, if he falters mentally, he could find himself instantly in trouble.
But Briggs comes into the enigma category. There is no doubt that he has talent, fast hands and can punch. He starts fast, as his 17 first-round knockouts indicate, but his physical and psychological staying power have to be questioned. In his last fight, for instance, he struggled against the strong but ordinary former body-builder, Jorge Valdez, before winning in nine rounds. Although Briggs dominated the fight, he allowed himself to get backed up on the ropes and seemed to be getting hit by left hooks a bit too often for comfort although he grinned them off.:SIB
Valdes is rather a small heavyweight at under 5ft 11ins, and not what you would call a serious puncher, so perhaps Briggs allowed himself the luxury of a lackadaisical night. Still, it was not an impressive performance.
Indeed, there seems to be a pattern with Briggs that if he does not get the other man out of there in a hurry, he has a tendency to perform in a pedestrian, uninspired manner.:00hour
Teddy Atlas, a disciplinarian type of trainer, felt that Briggs was becoming self-indulgent and spoiled, and, Teddy being Teddy, expressed his views in a strong way, which led to a parting of the ways.:SIB
"I don't think he wants to fight," Atlas has said of Briggs, suggesting (in an interview with a New Jersey newspaper) that the young heavyweight would "rather make his money doing other things while still being called a boxer".:scared
These other things are acting (he had a small part in a TV series called New York Undercover) and rap music. Briggs says these things give life extra excitement, that he still loves boxing. But many people in the boxing business are not convinced.:SIB
The biggest knock against Briggs in the trade is that, in the words of veteran New Jersey manager-trainer Al Certo, he "never learned to fight uphill", which means that he has never had to reach within himself, find reserves of heart and commitment, and come back from calamity. In the only fight in which he got seriously tested - against Darroll Wilson - he fell apart.:142smilie
Briggs has been able to enjoy a life of some opulence. Atlas felt that Briggs had the fruits of success without having earned them and said in an interview with Michael Katz of the New York Daily News at the time of the break-up: "They might as well have given him a belt as Future Heavyweight Champion of the World.":nono:
Briggs, 25, talks of a new beginning. But there are those who follow boxing who believe him to be a front runner who can dish it out but not take it, one who simply lacks the true grit ever to be a genuinely outstanding fighter. Boston Globe boxing writer Ron Borges noted around the time that Briggs dropped Teddy Atlas: "If Briggs could fight as well as Atlas can train, he'd be somebody. Which he isn't."
I think he knows he isn't as good a fighter as me. I would have knocked him out in the first round but I was exhausted in the second round. It was the biggest fight of my life, on HBO, so you think I'm not going to train?"
And what of the rap against him that he hasn't, as they say, beaten anybody? "I think my last fight, with Jorge Valdes [a nine rounds TKO win in June] was a big accomplishment for me because he'd just been 10 rounds with Axel Schulz, he was training really hard for me, he was really looking forward to beating me," Briggs said.
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Its funny how articles from 10 years ago when Briggs was 25 , can give me the information I need to make a winning play on this fight.