Shannon Briggs Enters K1 Merry-Go-Round

[TerribleTerry]

I though Briggs might make one last attempt at the heavyweight crown, but he is now fighting in Japan's K1 series.

Taken from Sherdog.com:

The next bout saw veteran heavyweight boxer Shannon Briggs make his long-anticipated K-1 debut. The 32 year-old Briggs hails from Brownsville, the same tough Brooklyn neighborhood that produced Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe. In 1997, Briggs took a 12 round decision against the legendary George Foreman to claim the heavyweight title. Briggs' opponent here was fellow American Tom Erikson, a 142 kg MMA fighter trying for the third time for his first victory in the K-1 ring.

It was immediately apparent that Erikson's strategy here was to wear down his boxer opponent with low kicks. Erikson threw four low kicks in the opening seconds of the bout, and even though they were not terrific strikes, Briggs did not look comfortable blocking them. And so Briggs fixed it so that he would not have to deal with any more kicks. Moving in quickly, he threw a left-right punch combination that put Erikson down. The big fellow slowly rose to one knee, and looked like he might beat the count -- if only the count were a whole lot longer. As the ref said 10, Erikson slumped back to the mat, and Briggs had a KO win in the first fight of his K-1 career.

"I am happy to win here," said Briggs afterwards. The multi-talented Briggs is also an actor and a rap singer, but has taken a shine to K-1: "I have a new film coming out soon, but after that I intend to focus on K-1."

Botha also competed, and lost for the fourth straight time:

Another South African, Francis "The White Buffalo" Botha, stepped up in the fourth matchup. Good with his fists, Botha the boxer has struggled in the K-1 ring, stymied in his first three bouts by good kickers (Cyril Abidi twice, Yasuke Fujimoto). Tonight he took on a fellow pugilist, Aziz Khattou of Belgium.

This started out much like the previous bout, the larger Botha holding center ring, looking for openings; the quicker Khattou circling, light on his feet, sniping with low kicks and straight punches. But Botha was just too slow, and midway through the first, Khattou was able to fire a right straight punch in and score a down. Botha adopted a more aggressive style as the fight wore on, using his size to bulldoze Khattou back into the ropes then unloading with tight hooks and body blows. Several times it looked like a wobbly Khattou might go down, but to his credit the Belgian always managed to stay on his feet, counter, and slip out of harm's way.

Botha got his best chances with a right uppercut in the second and with a right hook in the third -- a punch that snapped Khattou's head back smartly. Botha seemed to find his stride in the late going, winning the third round on two cards. Were it not for the down in the first, this fight might have gone to extra rounds -- or perhaps even Botha's way. As it happened one judge scored the contest a draw, and two gave the edge to Khattou. Both fighters were smiling afterward, and really, although he lost, Botha had nothing to be ashamed of in this dance -- clearly, he is maturing as a K-1 fighter.