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Briggs storms to victory

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By Paul Upham: Australian light heavyweight champion Paul “Hurricane” Briggs 12-1 (10) won a unanimous 10 round points decision over former kick-boxing rival Gurkan Ozkan 2-1 (0) on Saturday night at Movie World on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Unbeknown to most, Briggs carried a back injury into the fight, which caused him trouble from the fifth round on.

“I didn’t know if the fight was going to go ahead after I did my back in on Monday and couldn’t walk,” said Briggs, who knocked Ozkan down in the fourth round and won every round on the judge’s scorecards despite his injury.

The tough Gurkan took some punishing shots from Briggs and suffered bad cuts under both eyes.

The 26-year-old Briggs said: “I just couldn’t finish him because my back was locking up.

“I knew he was tough. I didn’t think I would finish him easy. All I had was my left hand. I couldn’t throw my right because of my back. I was only throwing single or double punches with no combinations.”

“It was a good fight and in the last round we stood toe to toe screaming at each other, it was a real slugfest. He was tough. I really have to take my hat off to him. After I dropped him in the fourth round he kept coming back in the fifth.”

A near capacity crowd of over 1000 people watched the grudge match stemming from Briggs’ kicking boxing days where Ozkan was one of only four men to defeat him in compiling a record of 51-4-1 (38).

Briggs is now scheduled to fly to the USA to work under the tutelage of Los Angeles trainer Freddie Roach in preparation for his USA debut.


Paul Upham
Contributing Editor
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