Faded former heavyweight champ, Shannon Briggs, made short work of unheralded and overmatched foe Michael Marrone last night, fighting in front of a small, but star studded and raucous crowd at the Seminole Hard Rock Live Arena, in Hollywood, Florida.
It took less than 2 rounds for Briggs, who turns 44 at the end of the year, to dispose of his hapless foe, flooring Marrone with a big right hand to the head at the end of the first round, immediately knocking any desire out of him, as former heavyweight luminaries such as Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes and Lennox Lewis – all in town for the weekend’s gathering of former heavyweight legends – looked on.
Marrone had absolutely nothing to offer in way of a threat to Briggs, who easily backed the timid 29 year old up to the corner with the jab, and then finished him off with some effortless lefts to the body that crumpled him up and signalled the end of the matter at 2:52 of round 2.
It is the culmination of a, thus far unremarkable, and likely ill-fated comeback, that Briggs is convinced will lead to a fight with long-dominant champion, Wladimir Klitschko.
Again resorting to his now frankly irritating “Let’s Go Champ,” phrase, Briggs again unleashed a volley of verbals aimed at securing the shot at Klitschko, who was ringside, and who must spend his days laughing his a** off at the prospect of fighting Briggs, who in all seriousness, would be risking his long term health in any unlikely event they ever, somehow, got it on.
The American is ludicrously rated at WBA #5, and was beaten senseless and hospitalised by Vitali Klitschko in 2010, sending him into the 4 year exile he has just returned from, and put simply, he doesn’t deserve a shot at Klitschko in any event, especially feasting on such over matched, and with respect, low tier opposition as Marrone.
It looks like Briggs isn’t going anywhere just yet though unfortunately, and seems deadly seriousness in his assertions regarding Klitschko and titles, however ludicrous they may seem.
“I’m going to stay busy,” he said immediately after the fight. “Hopefully, we come back in three or four months here and do it again.”
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
