Shannon Briggs

Who is Shannon Briggs?

Shannon Briggs is an American former boxer who competed in the heavyweight division. After a successful amateur career in which he was a New York Golden Gloves and United States champion as well as a silver medalist at the 1991 Pan American Games, Briggs tuned professional in 1992 and defeated George Foreman via a controversial majority decision to become the lineal world heavyweight champion in 1997. After losing to Lennox Lewis by technical knockout in a bid for the WBC World Heavyweight Championship in 1998, he later won a number of regional titles during the 2000s before TKO'ing Siarhei Liakhovich for the WBO heavyweight strap in 2006. He would lose this belt to Sultan Ibragimov the following year, however, and took a vicious beating at the hands of Vitali Klitschko in his second attempt at the WBC title in what would be his last fight in October 2010.

He is the last American heavyweight to have held a major world title, and has acted in several films.