27.09.06 – By Tony Nobbs: WBC number 1 light heavyweight contender Paul Briggs will fly out of Sydney Airport with trainer Johnny Lewis tomorrow morning (Friday 29th) , nine days ahead of his second shot at the famous green belt against Poland’s Tomasz Adamek at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois on October 8th Australian time. Briggs and Adamek do battle on a DKP card that features Nikolay Valuev’s defence of his WBA heavyweight title against Monte Barrett.
31 year old Briggs said this morning he is ready to take revenge on the lanky and very crafty Adamek who denied him the title on a majority decision in Chicago in May last year.
“Yes definitely. It’s motivation. But I’ve just got to get in there and do the job this time.” said Briggs, who unlike last time goes into this fight the outsider.
“Last time I was expected to win and it was very disappointing. It was a great fight (WBC fight of the year) but to lose after waiting so long was tough. I learned a lot from that loss”.
Briggs’ training has been intense but he is much more laid back going into the return. He had been based in California with Jack Mosely and had received tremendous hype and done plenty of interviews prior to his first shot. He is now training out of Sydney with Lewis who has taken Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding, Kostya Tszyu and recently Gairy St Claire to world crowns. He is confident Johnny can be the difference this time and he can give the trainer his fifth world champion.
“It’s been the best preparation I’ve had in my life. I’ve sparred close to 200 rounds for the fight – I’ve never done that much sparring in my life. I’ve been sparring Sam Soliman, Sakio Bika and we brought this guy over from the US, Lawrence Chapman. I’ve been able to relax and concentrate (on the job at hand).”
“I’ve had time to just take in everything Johnny tells me. He has given me a great deal. He knows how to get the most out of you and my fitness has gone through the roof. We have had two fights together (Eitienne Whitaker and Jose Clavero). They weren’t the best fights but it was great to work on a few things and get comfortable with each other.”