Briggs vs. Ibragimov - Boxing Results

On Saturday night, Sultan Ibragimov challenged for the WBO Heavyweight title held by Shannon "The Cannon" Briggs. Currently, the other 3 major heavyweight belts belong to members of the former Soviet Union, and the 32-year-old southpaw from Russia was determined to do the same.

Briggs came into the ring weighing 273 pounds, while the challenged was a much slimmer 221. While the champion tried to finish the match early, the challenger stayed away from the power of Briggs and used his jab.

It was obvious from early on that conditioning was going to be a problem for the champ. While Briggs suffers from asthma, his heavily-muscled frame could not have helped the situation (he weighed under 230 pounds when he defeated George Foreman a few years ago).

As the fight continued, Ibragimov picked his spots and landed shot after shot on Briggs. The already-winded champion, meanwhile, mostly followed his foe around the ring looking for one big shot. When Briggs did land, he seemed unable to follow up, allowing the challenger to move away and recover.

Later in the bout, Ibragimov landed more and more punches, but he never got too anxious. Instead of flurrying for a knockout, he simply stepped back, reloaded, and then gave the champion more of the same.

As the fight came to a close, many in the crowd were booing. It was just that kind of fight. The judges scored the fight 117-111, 119-109 and 115-113 - all for Ibragimov.

After the fight, Briggs had the following to say, "I proved that someone with asthma can become heavyweight champion. For two weeks, I couldn't train. I was taking all kinds of antibiotics. I didn't want to fight, but they made me fight, and I had to fight."

Spoken like a true ex-champion.

UNDERCARD RESULTS

On the undercard, Welterweight contender Shamone Cruz (18-0, 11 KO's) kept his unbeaten streak alive with a 12-round unanimous decision over Jose "Chelin" Luis Cruz.

Heavyweight contender Calvin "The Boxing Banker" Brock (31-1, 23 KO's) won an 8-round unanimous decision over Alex Gonzalez. Brock was knocked down in the 3rd but managed to recover.

Middleweight contender Giovanni Lorenzo (24-0, 16 KO's) got a 3rd round TKO win over Bruce Rumbolz. He knocked him down once in the 1st and then three more times in the 3rd.

German Middleweight contender Robert Stieglitz (30-1, 19 KO's) recorded an eight-round decision over Marlon "Rumblin' Man" Hayes.

Finally, undefeated Russian Welterweight "King" Khabib Alakhverdiev (4-0, 2 KO's) won a fourth round victory by disqualification after opponent Robert Acevedo was repeatedly warned for excessive holding.

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Briggs vs. Ibragimov - Boxing Results