Heavyweight Shannon Briggs is saying he’ll be Tyson Fury’s next opponent in April when the overweight former heavyweight champion makes his return to the ring following a 2-year layoff. Briggs says he’s already been in talks for the fight with the 6’9” Fury (25-0, 18 KOs), and he’s ready to knock him out.
Unfortunately, few boxing fans are buying what the 46-year-old Briggs is saying. They feel that it’s just a case of wishful thinking on Briggs’ part. Briggs is just name-dropping to get attention.
Fury still needs to lose a lot of weight before he can get back in the ring and fight again. He also needs to get his boxing license back. The British Boxing Board of Control will be meeting next month to determine whether the 29-year-old Fury will be given his license to fight.
Briggs and Fury both are coming off of long layoffs. Fury’s last fight was against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. Briggs fought a year and a half ago.
“I feel like the fight is going to happen next year we’ve been talking for some time now,” said Briggs to TMZ. “We’re looking at April right now. It’s going to be a great fight, he’s been off for two to three years now, I’ve been off for over a year.”
Fury-Briggs might be a better fight than a talked about match between Fury and former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew. Briggs is an old heavyweight, but you can probably still count on him to stand in front of Fury to make a fight of it for as long as it lasts. Bellew seemed reluctant to stand and fight David Haye last March. Bellew was more interested in using a hit and run style, and it made it a dull fight until Haye suffered an Achilles injury.
“He got heart and he ain’t scared of me,” said Briggs about Fury not being afraid to fight him. “He’s like you know what, this is a great fight, he realizes that this is a great fight for England – a great fight as he’ll be seen by the Americans.”
Fury is all over the place in talking about wanting to face different fighters in the heavyweight division. That doesn’t mean the fights are going to ever take place. That includes fights involving Fury and Bellew and Anthony Joshua. Those matches are going to be very difficult to put together, and they might not ever come to fruition. Sadly, Briggs has a better shot at getting a fight against Fury than the likes of Bellew and Joshua only because he’s going to be easier to negotiate with.
Fury is the clear A-side in a fight against Briggs, so he’ll be able to get whatever purse split he desires for that fight. Briggs will likely agree to whatever Fury offers him because it’ll still likely wind up being much more than he can make fighting the obscure opposition he’s been padding his record with since 2014.