06.11.06 – By Mike Cassell – “The Philadelphia Boxing Report” – I thought it was bad in Philly, when we snow balled Santa Claus, and continually harass our athletes, until they leave our city and win Championships elsewhere, but the crowd at Chase field in Arizona started booing by the 2nd round during the WBO heavyweight fight on Saturday night between Serguei Lyakhovich 23 – 2, and Shannon Briggs 48 – 4.. The fight got very boring, very quickly when it seemed both men were running out of gas by the 2nd or 3rd round. Lyakhovich, who gave up 20lbs to the wider Briggs, seemed hesitant to take advantage, of Briggs lackadaisical style, and paid dearly for it in the 12th round when he got caught by a very late and very hard right hand, and lost by KO.
If Lyakhovich would have been able to make the bell, he probably would have won the fight, even with the knock down. That gives you an idea of how poorly conditioned; both of these men seemed to be. One writer called this fight “tactically thrilling”, just for the record, he also believes we are winning the war in Iraq, and gas prices are just right. Hasim Rahman made a very telling statement after Maskaev caught him late, and knocked him out earlier this year.
When asked why there were not any good American heavyweights, Rahman replied very honestly, and very candidly. “We have become lazy, and complacent.” Briggs admitted that he was not in the best shape for this fight. This was the biggest fight of his life, and he was not in the best shape? What does that tell us? In this writers mind is says that Rahman is 100% right about American Heavyweights, and that when an opportunity to fight for a title comes along, you should be ready.
I sensed no shame or disgrace for not being ready, only an “oh well, what can you do?” kind of attitude. Considering Briggs had done absolutely nothing to earn his title shot, except be with Don King, and Serguei Lyakhovich did not do a whole lot to try to keep his title, except “wait out” a victory, maybe clearing the way for another guy is not such a bad idea.
If Briggs holds this title past one defense, I will be shocked. Maybe he can reach 300 lbs for his next fight, and battle another King Giant Nikolay Valuev, or maybe just a good old fashioned apple pie eating contest. Only in America, right?
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