Shannon Briggs has revealed the hardest punching heavyweight that he ever shared the ring with.
The Brooklyn-native enjoyed an impressive professional career, suffering just a handful of defeats throughout the course of his tenure which spanned between 1992 and 2016.
Briggs captured the WBO world heavyweight title back in November of 2006 when he stopped Siarhei Liakhovich in the final round of their clash in Arizona, although he would lose his title one fight later when he was outpointed by Sultan Ibragimov in June 2007.
‘The Cannon’ would go on to share the ring with a number of legendary heavyweights before his career came to an end, including the likes of Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko, suffering defeats to both men.
Another heavyweight great that he faced during his tenure was George Foreman, defeating the two-time world heavyweight champion via controversial majority decision in what would prove to be the final outing of ‘Big George’s career in 1997.
Speaking to First Round TV, Briggs didn’t hesitate to name Foreman as the hardest-hitting fighter he ever faced, as he claims there was ‘nobody’ like his fellow countryman.
“Nobody hit like George Foreman. George Foreman hit hard champ. He hit hard. I got hit by a car one time. I ain’t gonna lie. I got hit by a car, I was on Utica Avenue. Utica in the boulevard. I got hit by a car, that’s how I felt when I fought George Foreman. That’s how it felt, champ. Yeah, I swear to God, I couldn’t believe it. He hit me one time, he knocked me out, but he didn’t know it. He hit me with another shot and woke me up. And I was like Jesus Christ, what the hell is going on.“
Whilst the bulk of Foreman’s success came during the 1970s, the Texas native wrote his name into the boxing history books in emphatic fashion back in 1994 when he defeated Michael Moorer to become the oldest world heavyweight champion of all time, capturing the WBA and IBF titles from ‘Double M’. All in all, he scores an incredible 68 knockouts from 76 wins.
