Shannon Briggs retired with a record of 60-6-1, but it was some of his antics outside of the ring that make ‘The Cannon’ well-known.
Shannon ‘The Cannon’ Briggs was a WBO heavyweight champion known for his ruthless aggression and power.
Briggs stopped 37 opponents in the very first round, and faced the likes of George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Ray Mercer, and Vitali Klitschko.
He grew up in the same neighborhood as Mike Tyson and says seeing Tyson around changed his life and is the reason he became a heavyweight champion.
Outside of his power in the ring, Briggs is known for his wild antics outside of it too.
Shannon Briggs rents a boat to knock Wladimir Klitschko into the sea
Briggs had a longstanding rivalry with the Klitschko brothers, which reached new heights when the American rented a boat on the same water where Wladimir Klitschko was paddleboarding.
Briggs is seen on video steering the boat towards Klitschko saying: “What’s up Klitschko, everywhere you go, I go.”
He also shouted at the Ukrainian: “Call me champ. Say champ.”
Things escalate as Briggs tells the captain to “make a wave”, which knocks Klitschko off of his paddleboard and into the water.
Klitschko tells Briggs as he gets back on the board: “You crossed the f—— line.”
Despite this, it would not be Wladimir that Briggs would face in the ring, with the American instead facing his brother, Vitali.
The fight made it to a decision, though Briggs took a beating from Klitschko the full twelve rounds, and lost a one-sided fight with scorecards of 120-107, 120-107, 120-105.
The controversy behind Shannon Briggs vs George Foreman
In 1997, Briggs faced lineal champion Foreman, who has revealed what Ali said to him during the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’. Briggs was 29-1 at the time and felt confident he could dethrone the knockout artist in Foreman.
Despite landing less punches and a lower percentage of punches, and despite Foreman being the aggressor for the majority of the fight, it was Briggs who was controversially announced as the winner by majority decision.
Muhammad Ali had previously begged Foreman to come out of retirement in 1976.
The fight was the last of Foreman’s career, despite his promoters’ efforts to overturn the decision, which they felt was unjustifiable.