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| Date | November 22, 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | Lineal Heavyweight Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Briggs wins via 12-round majority decision (114-114, 116-112, 117-113) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
George Foreman vs. Shannon Briggs , billed as The Legend Continues..... was a professional boxing match contested on November 22, 1997, for the lineal heavyweight championship. [1]
After capturing the WBA and IBF titles from Michael Moorer late in 1994, George Foreman would forfeit his WBA title and make only one defense of his IBF portion, narrowly and controversially defeating little-known German fighter Axel Schulz on April 22, 1995. Though the IBF mandated a rematch between the two, Foreman decided against it and chose instead to forfeit the title.
As he had not been beaten for either title, Foreman remained the lineal champion and successfully defended that crown (as well as the lowly regarded WBU heavyweight title) against then-undefeated prospects Crawford Grimsley and Lou Savarese. Following his win over Savarese, Foreman was given the opportunity to face Lennox Lewis for Lewis' WBC heavyweight title, with Foreman first having to win an "eliminator" bout against a contender. The WBC supplied Foreman with a list of acceptable opponents, including future heavyweight champions Chris Byrd and Hasim Rahman and the recently returned former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion James "Buster" Douglas, though Foreman ultimately picked Shannon Briggs.
Coming into the fight, Briggs sported a 29–1 record with 24 wins coming by way of knockout. However, despite his impressive record, his one loss had been a third round knockout against Darroll "Doin' Damage" Wilson on HBO the previous year which halted his momentum and hurt his status as one of the premier up-and-coming heavyweights. [2] However, realizing that a win over Foreman would get him back into contention, Briggs vowed to be ready for the fight stating that he was "confident that I can go in and fight for 12 rounds and win a decision." [3]
The fight was a controversial one as many felt Foreman had clearly won the fight, though it would be Briggs who would ultimately pick up the victory by way of majority decision. Through the course of the fight, Foreman landed more punches and had a higher percentage of his punches land than Briggs. Foreman landed 284 of his 488 punches for a 58% success rate while Briggs only landed 45% of his punches, going 223 for 494.
Foreman spent much of the fight as the aggressor while Briggs spent a lot of the fight retreating. In the later rounds Foreman's power punches seemed to take a toll on the younger Briggs, as he began slowing down and all but abandoned his tactic of moving away from Foreman and was hit from some heavy shots as a result. In the 12th and final round, Foreman tried hard for a knockout victory and was able to break Briggs' nose but was unable to score a knockdown. As a result, the result went to the judge's scorecards.
Unofficial HBO scorer Harold Lederman had Foreman clearly winning the fight at 116–112 (eight rounds to four), but none of the three official scorers had Foreman the victor. One judge scored the fight a draw at 114–114 while the other two had the fight scored 116–112 and 117–113 in favor of Briggs, giving him both the majority decision win and the Lineal heavyweight title. [4]
The fight proved to be the last of Foreman's career. However, shortly after his loss to Briggs, his promoters Jeff Wald and Irving Azoff, feeling that Foreman had clearly won, launched a protest in an effort to get the decision overturned which would allow Foreman to move on to face Lewis for his WBC heavyweight title; the decision, though, was upheld. [5]
In 1998, Foreman agreed to come out of retirement once again to face another aging legend in Larry Holmes with a date set for January 23, 1999, but the bout was called off after the promoter could not pay the remaining $9 million of Foreman's promised $10 million purse. [6] Foreman would finish his career with an overall record of 76–5. In his 10-year comeback from 1987 to 1997, Foreman went 31–3 with 26 knockouts. In addition, none of the 34 fighters he faced during that span were able to score a knockdown over him. [7]
Briggs, on the other hand, secured a WBC championship fight with Lennox Lewis, which was set for March 28, 1998. [8] Briggs fought Lewis aggressively and had the champion in trouble at the end of the first round, but Lewis dominated the remainder of the fight and scored three knockdowns over Briggs in the next four rounds, ultimately winning by fifth round technical knockout.
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2024) |
Confirmed bouts: [9]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Canada | TSN |
 United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
 United States | HBO |
Lennox Claudius Lewis is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and held the undisputed championship. Holding dual British and Canadian citizenship, Lewis represented Canada as an amateur at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; in the latter, he won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division. Lewis is regarded by many as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, and one of the greatest British fighters of all time.
Shannon Briggs is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1992 and 2016. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight title from 2006 to 2007. Briggs was known for his formidable punching power and aggression, possessing an 88.3% knockout-to-win percentage with 37 knockout wins in the first round.
Lou Savarese is an American former professional boxer and mixed martial artist who competed 1989 to 2013. He is from Greenwood Lake, New York. In January 1996, Savrese won IBF USBA Heavyweight title by knocking out former contender Buster Mathis Jr. in seven rounds. On April 26, 1997, he challenged for the Lineal Heavyweight Championship, and lost by a controversial split decision to the Lineal World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman. A year later on June 25, 1998, Savarese won the IBA World Heavyweight title against former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Buster Douglas by way of a first-round knockout. On June 24, 2000, he lost by a first-round technical knockout to former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson. On September 22, 2002, Savarese won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight title, by way of a fifth-round TKO against former two-time World Heavyweight Champion Tim Witherspoon. On June 30, 2007, Savarese fought former four-time World Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield. He fought with great heart but lost by unanimous decision to a sharp looking Holyfield. Savarese announced after the fight that he had given it his all but it wasn't good enough, and this would be his last bout.
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Buster Douglas vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as The Moment of Truth, was a professional boxing match contested on October 25, 1990, for the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight championships. The bout took place at the Mirage in Paradise, Nevada, USA and saw Douglas making the first defense of the titles he won from Mike Tyson in February 1990.
Evander Holyfield vs. Riddick Bowe was a professional boxing match that took place on November 13, 1992 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was contested for the undisputed world heavyweight championship, which consisted of the WBA, WBC, and IBF championships.
Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer was a professional boxing match contested on April 22, 1994, for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.
Michael Moorer vs. George Foreman, billed as One for the Ages, was a professional boxing match contested on November 5, 1994 for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.
Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer II, billed as Return to Glory, was a professional boxing match contested November 8, 1997 for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.
Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis, billed as Undisputed, was a professional boxing match contested on March 13, 1999 for the WBA, WBC, and IBF undisputed heavyweight championship.
Lennox Lewis vs. Phil Jackson was a professional boxing match contested on May 6, 1994 for the WBC Heavyweight Championship.
Lennox Lewis vs. Shannon Briggs, billed as "March Badness", was a professional boxing match contested on March 28, 1998 for the WBC and Lineal Heavyweight Championships.
Lennox Lewis vs. Željko Mavrović, billed as "Battle of the Giants", was a professional boxing match contested on September 26, 1998 for the WBC and Lineal Heavyweight Championships.
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Evander Holyfield vs. Vaughn Bean, billed as "The Power and the Glory", was a professional boxing match contested on September 19, 1998 for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.
George Foreman vs. Crawford Grimsley was a professional boxing match contested on November 3, 1996, for the WBU, lineal and vacant IBA heavyweight titles.
George Foreman vs. Lou Savarese, billed as Power Brokers was a professional boxing match contested on April 26, 1997, for the WBU and lineal heavyweight titles.