UNHAPPY ENDING
ON November 22, 1997, 48-year-old George Foreman fought 25-year-old Shannon Briggs at the Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City for what was styled as the lineal heavyweight championship of the world.
Foreman, at age 45, had claimed the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation heavyweight titles on November 5, 1994, with a stunning 10th round knockout of Michael Moorer. Four months later, he was stripped of the WBA belt for refusing to make a mandatory defence against Tony Tucker. Then, after successfully defending his IBF crown against Axel Schultz, he was stripped of that too for not fighting a mandated rematch against Schulz.
That left Foreman without a major sanctioning body title. But he was still George Foreman. And by virtue of his victory over Moorer, he was still the lineal heavyweight king. Victories over Crawford Grimsley and Lou Savarese (both of whom were undefeated at the time) followed. That set the stage for Foreman vs. Shannon Briggs.
Foreman’s credentials were self-explanatory. Explaining Briggs was a bit more complicated.
Despite occasional outbursts of erratic behavior, Shannon was - and still is - personable, articulate, and smart. Part of his adolescence was spent in relative comfort. But there was a
