By Bill Calogero

Sultan Ibragimov won a unanimous decision over Shannon Briggs, broadcast live from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on PPV, to become the NEW WBO Heavyweight Champion last weekend.

Ibragimov used his far superior hand speed, footwork and overall quantity of punches to cruise to the unanimous decision. Briggs on the other hand, did virtually nothing to make this a competitive bout. Briggs moved as little as he could, occasionally throwing a decent jab with his powerful right hand ready and cocked but never was able to mount any kind of significant attack. He did land several hard shots during the first round, and then again later in the fight, but never once was able to hurt the new WBO Champ.

Sultan Ibragimov was able to hit Briggs with solid punches and then get out of harms way almost at will. As the fight progressed, Ibragimov was able to double and even triple up his punch combinations to totally dominate this fight.

One judge scored the fight 119-109; the second had it 117-111 while the third judge saw the bout at 115-113, all in favor of Sultan Ibragimov, who improves to 21-0-1 (17 KOs). BoxingScene.com scored the bout 119-109 (giving only the first round to Briggs) also in favor of Sultan Ibragimov. Briggs drops to 48-5-1 (42 KOs).

I for one hope we have seen the absolute last of Shannon Briggs. I think he has finally showed me (and hopefully EVERYONE else who saw this fight) that he’s done. Aside from a powerful right hand, Shannon Briggs has NOTHING else for anyone to consider him even as a top-ten fighter, let alone a World Champion.

All Briggs did during Saturday’s fight was stand there, smiling, shaking his head telling Ibragimov that his punches were not hurting him. To be honest, I did not see one put Shannon in any kind of trouble either, but they WERE landing, which meant they were being scored in favor of Sultan.

Ibragimov was able to make Briggs look like he was a statue. But then again, Briggs was just standing there not doing much of anything while Sultan circled around him, landing a few punches at a time, and then moving out of danger. He did this round after round. He controlled the fight thus proving to me that Briggs is yet another example of how managers and promoters hand feed their fighters “tomato cans”, pay off sanctioning bodies for rankings, etc., etc., etc., all to get a low-end washed up fighter in a position to fight for a World Title. The best part of this story is that in this particular case, the bum came in AS the Champion! Thank goodness this time, the better fighter left with the belt.

Some may argue that by the title once again changing hands will further complicate the Heavyweight Division and the dream of most boxing fans of someday, soon, having a unified Champion. I however, believe that by gaining Sultan Ibragimov as the WBO’s Heavyweight Champion, the heavyweight division may be looking as good as it has in a long time.

As of last weekend, the four major Champions are as follows: The WBC’s Title belongs to Oleg Maskaev, the WBA’s to Ruslan Chagaev, the IBF’s to Wladimir Klitschko, and after last night, the WBO Heavyweight Title belongs to Ibragimov. 

Out of these four, I would think that the weakest has to be Oleg Maskaev while the strongest clearly is Wladimir Klitschko. I think that the most intriguing Champions have to be the newest; Chagaev and Ibragimov. I want to see more of BOTH of these guys and to be honest, as soon as possible.

Sultan Ibragimov and Ruslan Chagaev may evolve as the two best. They will be the most sought after Champions by top-ranked heavyweights like Samuel Peter, Lamon Brewster, and Nikolai Valuev. Guys that refuse to go away like Evander Holyfield, Hasim Rahman, John Ruiz and James Toney will also want a piece of Ibragimov and Chagaev.

The best part of this will be the simple fact that both Ibragimov and Chagaev will help in cleaning these pretenders out of the picture, finally (hopefully) opening the doors (the rankings) for some of the younger prospects that we have not seen enough of. Guys like Eddie Chambers, Vladimir Virchis and Alexander Dimitrenko.

I have been criticized for being a “hater” when I write about how bad the state of pro boxing is, but the truth is that the reason why I feel negatively sometimes was on display Saturday night. Shannon Briggs had NO right to be a considered a World Champion.

His road to the Championship was tainted with BS bouts against BS opponents. When he fought Sergei Liakhovich for the title last year, it was Liakhovich’s own corner who lost the fight. Briggs didn’t WIN the fight; he just came away with the belt.

On Saturday, Shannon Briggs’ lack of skill was on display for the world to see and this time his opponent had the right game plan and followed it flawlessly. Sultan Ibragimov fought a full fight and came out victorious.

I hope that all boxing fans will demand to see quality fighters fight each other, especially when there is a title on the line. The sport does not need recycled fighters to come back “for the money” and taint the rankings. We need to have the young fighters get the opportunity to fight each other, advance to top-ten rankings, and ultimately fight for Championships.

What we don’t need are bums taking up ranking positions, spots on cards and basically stealing money from the fans, you and me, for their personal gain. As fans, we deserve to see the best fight the best ESPECIALLY when these fights are broadcast on PPV networks. I hope we never have to see another Shannon Briggs get hold of a World Title.

Pro Boxing has enough problems; we certainly don’t need to constantly wish for the best to fight the best. This should be the NORM, not the exception.