WBC Light Heavyweight Eliminator

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 30 Mar 2004, 10:23

The WBC have apparently confirmed that No. 2 ranked contender Paul Briggs of Australia and German based Croatian Stipe Drews ranked No. 3 will fight in a chance to be the man who will face the winner of the May 15th rematch between Antonio Tarver and Roy Jones Jnr. It is likely that should Jones win as is expected then he will boycott the chance to defend his title and go in search of big paydays while a Tarver victory represents a more realistic chance of a fight for the two contenders.

While unbeaten Drews holds a 25-0 (12) record it is Briggs at 22-1 (17) who has arguably fought the better opposition. After a KO loss in only his second fight Briggs - a former kickboxing star - has rebounded well by wiping out all legitimate opposition in Australia and is now ready for the world scene. At 28 time is not immediately against him but he feels he is ready now for the big challenges, Briggs posesses a huge right hand as former Roy Jones victim Glenn Kelly found it back in 2002. Other challengers such as Daniel Rowsell, Adrian Bellin, Paul Smallman and Toscar Petridis have also felt the power as did American Brad McNeil when he was stopped in one on a Kostya Tszyu undercard. Worryingly though Briggs was dropped in his last fight against Jesus Ruiz en-route to a unanimous points win, he does have at times questionable punch resistance but it is a minor drawback as his power, handspeed and punch picking are all good as he showed when he came close to stopping Jorge Castro.

Drews on the other hand is 30 years old and is a tall Light Heavy at 6'5, i saw him in his last fight against Oliver Beard and he looked strong and confident early on but soon lost interest with his come forward opponent and resorted to flicking the jab and the combinations became less consistent before Mickey Vann compassionately called time in the sixth round. His best win to date was probably when he won the vacant EBU title over Silvio Branco after he came in as a late substitute and defended it against respectable French fighter Kamel Amrane while adding the IBF intercontinental belt to his record in the process. His punch resistance is unclear as his early opposition were clearly in there to help Drews learning process, his punching power is not great either.

I think Briggs will have too much for Drews and will find his way in behind the jab to explode with those big right hands to wear him down, whether the fight is held in Australia or Germany will determine if he will need the stoppage to win.

knockout · Post by **knockout** » 30 Mar 2004, 12:38

Drews is extrememly awkward and i know Elvis who has sparred both of them certainly had more trouble with Drews....

Drews a 6'5 southpaw is pretty much impossible to get used to fighting... no sparring can really mimick him...

Poor old branco was training for a fight with Ullrich (a come forward orthodox fighter) and even weighed in for the fight, then Universum switched opponents ....

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 30 Mar 2004, 12:51

knockout wrote:Drews is extrememly awkward and i know Elvis who has sparred both of them certainly had more trouble with Drews....

Drews a 6'5 southpaw is pretty much impossible to get used to fighting... no sparring can really mimick him...

Poor old branco was training for a fight with Ullrich (a come forward orthodox fighter) and even weighed in for the fight, then Universum switched opponents ....

Yeah, was impressed with Drews against Branco. He showed he could box and mix it that night. Exchanges got very tasty towards the end of the fight.
I seem to remember Drews as orthodox, but, either way, he's a nightmare opponent for Briggs, who deserves a straight shot on patience alone.

knockout · Post by **knockout** » 30 Mar 2004, 12:55

bennie: you could well be right, no idea why i thought drews was a southpaw.....

Eric the Viking · Post by **Eric the Viking** » 30 Mar 2004, 12:58

bennie wrote:I seem to remember Drews as orthodox, but, either way, he's a nightmare opponent for Briggs, who deserves a straight shot on patience alone.

Check out the picture of Drews next to Glen Johnson on this thread:

http://www.boxrec.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=129069

While lankier than Glen, he certainly doesn;t look skinny. I have trouble believing he can actually boil down to 175, if he really is 6'5".

knockout · Post by **knockout** » 30 Mar 2004, 13:24

well he has fought 12 rounds at the weight so it cannot be that difficult for him....
he has narrow waist and hips and legs which is where a lot of fighters carry weight..

BubiScholz · Post by **BubiScholz** » 30 Mar 2004, 13:27

Drews is a good one who also has enough power for knock outs. He is as strong as Erdei.

Freiheit · Post by **Freiheit** » 30 Mar 2004, 14:02

Eric the Viking wrote:
bennie wrote:I seem to remember Drews as orthodox, but, either way, he's a nightmare opponent for Briggs, who deserves a straight shot on patience alone.
Check out the picture of Drews next to Glen Johnson on this thread:

http://www.boxrec.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=129069

While lankier than Glen, he certainly doesn;t look skinny. I have trouble believing he can actually boil down to 175, if he really is 6'5".

If Im not mistaken the white guy is not Drews but boxrec´s own Windmill

Eric the Viking · Post by **Eric the Viking** » 30 Mar 2004, 14:22

Freiheit wrote:
Eric the Viking wrote:
bennie wrote:I seem to remember Drews as orthodox, but, either way, he's a nightmare opponent for Briggs, who deserves a straight shot on patience alone.
Check out the picture of Drews next to Glen Johnson on this thread:

http://www.boxrec.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=129069

While lankier than Glen, he certainly doesn;t look skinny. I have trouble believing he can actually boil down to 175, if he really is 6'5".
If Im not mistaken the white guy is not Drews but boxrec´s own Windmill

Dammit, Freiheit, must you spoil our fun?

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 30 Mar 2004, 14:28

Even though footage of Dutch Windmill is rare i do believe that Freiheit is correct on this one...anyone with me on predicting a Briggs win though?

Eric the Viking · Post by **Eric the Viking** » 30 Mar 2004, 14:31

steve689 wrote:Even though footage of Dutch Windmill is rare i do believe that Freiheit is correct on this one...anyone with me on predicting a Briggs win though?

Over Drews or Dutch?

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 30 Mar 2004, 14:35

Either, i have only seen Dutch's picture once and he looks like Drews so i am damned if i can tell them apart :P I don't think that is Drews in the picture though from what i remember of him against Beard.

mickeybeard · Post by **mickeybeard** » 30 Mar 2004, 15:09

I don't think I've ever met the man. :P