OWN CORRESPONDENT, Atlantic City | Friday 11.50am.
SOUTH Africa’s Fransie Botha faces dreadlocked American Shannon Briggs here Saturday in a fight each man needs to remain among the top title challengers in the division.
It might be the best heavyweight fight seen for some time with champions Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield seemingly unable to reach a deal for a unification rematch and Mike Tyson beginning yet another comeback.
Botha last fought in January against Tyson and was leading until Tyson caught him with a right hand and knocked him out in the fifth round.
“I learned not to get too cocky,” Botha said. “I got too overanxious and started dropping my hands and fooling around.”
Now Botha, 30, takes a 39-2 record with 24 knockouts into a bout with Briggs, 27, who has a 31-2 mark with 25 knockouts.
“I think Frans has learned a good lesson,” said Abel Sanchez, Botha’s new trainer. “Before, he just took it for granted that his natural ability was going to get him by. It doesn’t work that way at this level.
“He’s a smart fighter, in business and inside the ring, and he wants to learn. He’s more serious now.”
An attitude adjustment has also reached the Briggs camp, with trainer Emanuel Steward setting the pace.
“To prepare him, we’ve been getting Shannon focused on the fact that he’s been losing a lot of time in his career because of the lackluster, happy-go- lucky attitude,” Steward said. “Once he changes his attitude, everything is going to fall into place. He is one of the most gifted heavyweights that has ever been in boxing.”
Briggs, whose most notable triumph was a controversial decision over George Foreman in 1997, was out of shape for outmatched Marcus Rhode in December but won his most recent bout in a first-round knockout.
“Botha will physically try to rough up Shannon,” Steward said.
“Shannon has got to set a fast pace. He can do that. He has tremendous natural rhythm and coordination. He is an agile, young kid. It’s just a matter of him putting his interest into being a boxer.” — AFP