In a tedious and excruciatingly painful to watch fight, Shannon Briggs KO’d Sergei Liakhovich to become the WBO heavyweight champion. For Liakhovich this fight was a real disappointment, as he fought a guy who is a bodybuilder pretending to be a boxer and lost. For Briggs this fight is the most fortuitous event in his life, which can be compared to winning the lottery where you win a prize based on luck, while not really deserving it.

Briggs had a completely unique strategy for this fight which surprised everyone including Liakhovich, who seemed confused at how to handle this novel approach used by Briggs. His approach largely consisted of moving forward while flexing his muscles and trying to look as mean as possible. And yes, Briggs did throw punches, but only when he really had to appear like he was actually boxing.

The biggest disappointment of the fight was Liakhovich, who was unable to put away a walking stiff who was more concerned about preserving his stamina than actually fighting. I understand that Briggs has some power, but Liakhovich is by far the better boxer and has enough stamina to run circles around his flat footed opponent. For reasons unknown he sunk down to the level of his opponent and this made for an extremely boring fight.

Overall Liakhovich was the busier boxer (which is not saying much in this fight) and had the fight won on all scorecards going into the twelfth and final round. In that round Liakhovich made the fatal mistake of trading with Briggs while keeping his left hand down, despite numerous reproaches by his corner to keep his hands up. Briggs was able to stagger Sergei and then floor him with a barrage of punches. Liakhovich was able to beat the count, but by this time he was basically out on his feet and hardly able to defend himself. The completely fatigued Briggs pulled his remaining energy together and moved in to finish off the fight as he knocked Liakhovich through the ropes forcing the referee to stop the fight at 2:59 of the tenth round.

For those who wanted an American heavyweight champion you’ve got him and be careful what you wish for. For those who keep complaining about how bad the heavyweight division is, well I finally agree with you and you’ve got a good argument. In the end, there is yet another new heavyweight champion in the long list at the revolving door of the recently crowned champions. The only question that remains is will this ever end?