The heavyweight division has thrown up plenty of surprises lately – not least Deontay Wilder losing back-to-back fights – and now comes another with the news one former champion has promised an unlikely return.
It has been all change in the top class. After Anthony Joshua, Wilder and Tyson Fury dominated for so long, all three of them have now been dethroned.
Two of them, Joshua and Fury, have been dealt with in impressive fashion across four fights by Oleksandr Usyk. He was rarely hurt in any of the 48 rounds he shared with the two Brits and ended up coming out as the undisputed champion in May 2024, having also achieved the same feat down at cruiserweight.
Fury has been retired since January and ‘AJ’ is once again on the rebuild after suffering a devastating knockout loss to Daniel Dubois.
Hard-hitting Wilder – who lost his WBC belt to Fury back in 2020 – has confirmed he will be making a return after suffering defeats to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, but as of yet no formal announcement has been made.
One man now throwing his name into the hat to face the American is former WBO heavyweight champion and knockout artist Shannon Briggs.
Despite being 53-years-old, Briggs has told Fight Hub TV that he will be returning to the sport this year and he would like that fight to be against ‘The Bronze Bomber’.
“I would like to fight him, I think it would be a great fight in Alabama when he comes back. I never really retired, they just won’t fight me. I’m going to fight in March so if he wants to go, we can go.”
In his heyday, Briggs was a big puncher who held the WBO belt between 2006 and 2007. During his 68 fight career, ‘The Cannon’ faced the likes of Lennox Lewis, George Foreman and Wladimir Klitschko. he was last seen between the ropes in 2016 when he knocked out Emilio Zarate in the first round.
