Paul Briggs: "The Thing In My Favour Is I Will Fight Anyone"

By Tony Nobbs

06.11 - OPBF Lt Heavyweight Champion Paul Briggs (17-1, 14 KO) will be in action in Melbourne on a show which will also showcase the return to Australia of Heavyweight Jimmy Thunder on December 6. Briggs' opponent will be former PABA Champion and WBA Interim Title Challenger Anthony Bigeni from New Zealand and the 27 year old Gold Coaster has a place on the Tszyu-Leija card on January 19, also in Melbourne.

The WBC # 9, fresh from his impressive four round knockout of former World Title Challenger Glenn Kelly on September 18, had been looking at facing another top ten contender in December, before settling on Bigeni (23-9,14 KO) after realizing that the entire 175 lb division is waiting to see what
happens with Roy Jones-John Ruiz.

"Everyone we approached were reluctant to come out here and fight on six weeks notice, especially with the Titles a chance to become vacant. It's not like here where we just fight. We need more time to sort all the details out and we now know that none of those guys are going to come here at the moment. They are taking fights against nobodies just to keep active, so they don't slip out. After beating Glenn Kelly, I went to a new level in terms of people knowing me, and seeing that I can really fight and I want to give the fans more. This fight next month is to stop me from going crazy with all the hard training. We'll be training through Christmas for the fight in January and this fight will break it up a bit, plus, Bigeni being a southpaw, it will give me a chance to work on a few things".

Briggs' opponent on January 19 is yet to be determined but he believes 2003 will be "the beginning of Paul Briggs in a big way". After an early morning workout with trainer Rod Waterhouse he told Eastside that he doesn't care who he fights next and is not prepared to "tip toe" his way to the Title.

" I really believe that I will be World Champion next year. The thing I have in my favour is I will fight anybody. I don't need to pick and choose. I'm confident in my ability, I don't need to side step anyone. My fight on the Tzyu card will give me awesome coverage in Australia, more people are going to find out who I am and what I can do. And if we get a main support bout to Kostya, but I don't like our chances, my fight will get shown in America as well. Then we can get to the top and fight these rated guys, but do it from Australia if we get the support we should be getting. We are in preliminary negotiations with Julio Gonzales, it will be a bigger fight than Kelly and move me up".

In other developments, Briggs confirmed to Eastside while relaxing over a coffee at an amateur show on the Gold Coast on Sunday, that he will be sparring Super Middleweight contender Anthony Mundine as the two Australian stars work their way to World Title honours in the new year.

"I met Choc before while I was having lunch with Jimmy Thunder and the promoters of our fights in December. He came up and tapped me on the shoulder and we talked. He is a really nice guy, cool, very open. We are not going to fight each other, he is going his way, I'm going my way so it will be great to work with him. It will help both of us. We were hoping to get some sparring in before his fight last night, but because I'd been working with Ricky, they wanted to wait. I told him, I saw a few things he did, if he got more aggressive, he could be a scary fighter. He's beaten the best in Australia and he did what two world Champions, Svenn Ottke and Joe Calzaghe couldn't do and that was stop Ricky Thornberry. It would be great for boxing in Australia if we can both win World Titles next year, Australia having three World Champions, along with Kostya. It's never been done".