For those of you interested in the heavyweight
division, the Briggs Ibragimov odds are now up
and ready for your betting attention. Shannon
"Brooklyn" Briggs formerly held the heavyweight title by
beating George Foreman in a controversial decision back
in 1998. He was born in Brooklyn, New York but
could be a little aged at 36. He regained the WBO
Heavyweight title by beating Sergei Liakhovich by TKO in
the 12th and final round back in November and will be
making his first title defense against Sultan Ibragimov
on June 2, 2007. Briggs started out his career
going 25-0 before losing in 1996 to Darroll Wilson by
TKO. He now stands at 48-4 with 42 knockouts,
which is why he has earned the nickname the "Cannon."
After beating Foreman in 1998 he challenged Lennox Lewis
for the WBC Title, but lost via TKO after having Lewis
in trouble early in the bout. He was pretty much
left out to dry and never really a serious contender
before winning back in November as a big underdog.
If he hadn't knocked Liakhovich out, he would have lost
on all three judge's scorecards, so this may be a
favorite to be careful with.
Sultan Ibragimov is a Russian fighter
who is 32 years of age. He is currently ranked #3
in the WBO heavyweight rankings, #5 in the IBF, and #9
in the WBA and is trained by Jeff Mayweather.
Ibragimov is part of the trend that shows former Sovient
Union states dominating the heavyweight boxing scene in
a throwback to Rocky IV. Sultan stands at 20-0-1,
with his draw coming on July 28th to Ray Austin in an
IBF Heavyweight title eliminator. When Briggs
became ill and had to back out of the initial contest
between these two scheduled for March 10, 2007,
Ibragimov instead faced Javier Mora and knocked him out
in 46 seconds.
A lot of people are losing interest in
the heavyweight division and this contest isn't going to
get a lot of fan fare from the media and general public,
however it's a major American fighter against one of the
Soviet invaders. It will be interesting to see if
Briggs can hold up to a very formidable challenger.
