A former heavyweight champion believes Oleksandr Usyk can compete with Evander Holyfield in a fantasy matchup.
After dismantling Daniel Dubois, Usyk is now one fight away from hanging up the gloves.
An impressive résumé of two wins against Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, and Dubois at heavyweight, not to mention his impeccable undisputed cruiserweight run, has cemented him into boxing history.
Now he can’t escape comparisons and what-ifs against some of the best to ever lace them up, including the cruiserweight king Holyfield.
Former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs sides with ‘different’ Oleksandr Usyk in Evander Holyfield fantasy fight
Shannon Briggs, who was a former WBO heavyweight titleholder, has weighed in on the fight and explains why the Ukrainian has the edge.
In an interview with First Round TV, Briggs was asked about how a prime Usyk vs a prime Holyfield at cruiserweight would pan out.
He responded: “Usyk is just different, fighters are different now, I don’t understand they are throwing more punches. The game has changed as to where it’s more about your conditioning, and Holyfield is a machine.”
Conditioning is what makes a difference in how fighters last over the 12 rounds, and ‘The Cannon’ made a bold statement on the gas tank of ‘The Cat’.
“The conditioning is more like skill, but it is now about conditioning, because you can be skillful for four, five, six, seven rounds, but if that guy got that pressure on you and you can’t stop it, it’s running your machine too fast, you’re going to go down, and they still going up like Usyk,” he said.
“Usyk still going up, 12th round he’s strong as in the 1st round he’s throwing punches like it’s the first round. No one has ever done that in the history of boxing.”
Other bold predictions of the popular heavyweight included Briggs believing Terence Crawford will stop Canelo Alvarez late in their super middleweight undisputed super-fight.
Shannon Briggs reveals brilliant advice Larry Holmes gave him on retirement
In the age when great fighters like Mike Tyson have come out of retirement for fights against the likes of Jake Paul, boxing fans question whether these legends should go on.
During the podcast, the Brooklyn basher revealed a piece of advice the great Larry Holmes gave him about retiring.
Briggs said: “Larry Holmes told me never retire, just keep on making as much money as you can.”
He also provided a one-word response to if he would ever fight Paul.
“Tonight,” he exclaimed.
A comeback fight never materialised for the heavyweight on July 1st, but he is batting away any talk of retiring to make some money.