Of all four heavyweight defenses planned for the end of the year, this fight was perhaps the most intriguing. The champion, according to the World Boxing Organization (WBO), the Belarusian Sergei Lyakhovich, nicknamed the White Wolf, had to defend the title won in April for the first time. While his rival American Shannon Briggs had a rich track record of performances in the professional ring: 47 wins (41 by KO), 4 losses and one draw. Briggs' highest achievement was a victory in 1997 over the legendary George Foreman (on points), which allowed him to claim the WBA championship title. But even such an experienced boxer, according to many experts, was too tough for Lyakhovich. All of them unanimously claimed: if Briggs, with a powerful blow, but unimportant stamina, did not send the opponent to the knockout in the first three rounds, then he would have nothing to hope for.
And everything was more or less predictable in this fight, if not for the figure of promoter Don King behind the backs of both boxers. Probably, it is not entirely true every time to believe that the outcome of a battle depends on this person for fifty percent. But it so happens that even when you are not looking for underwater currents launched by the Don, they themselves come to the surface.
For example, a few days before the fight, Briggs - Lyakhovich at the American boxing forums suggested that King decided to donate to Belarus. He has one champion from the former USSR. And for a profitable, first of all, for his wallet, unification battle, he needs a local champion, familiar and interesting to American fans, sponsors and TV channels.
In light of these suspicions, the open training session of the Belarusian heavyweight on the eve of the battle, organized by the American TV channel Showtime, was very revealing. Such actions are usually attracted by dozens of journalists and hundreds of fans. But in this case, the interest was record low: one cameraman, one newspaper journalist, several representatives of online publications and not a single viewer. And this is not surprising. Lyakhovich is not a mythical Giant from the East, and King did not suit him for photo shoots in skyscrapers or a duet with Madonna. And with such a level of popularity, it is really difficult for a foreign boxer, especially fighting in the States, to remain a champion. In this state of affairs, the whole way of professionally boxing is put on the brink of collapse, where the word "profit" is pronounced much more often than others.
To win this fight, Lyakhovich needed not only to show his best boxing, but also to play with the Americans according to their rules: to be ready for tricks, or better, to show the trick himself.
It turned out the opposite. The usual bulk in the first rounds, Briggs preferred caution, action on the counterattack. After the fourth round, in which the American, according to forecasts, was supposed to start getting tired, he, on the contrary, accelerated the pace, hit well on the left side of the case, and then a heavy oncoming jab. And immediately went back into the shadows.
Perhaps if Lyakhovich began to put more pressure on this segment of the battle, he would be able to break the opponent’s tactics, make him open and move more. It was a chance to exhaust Briggs, not to allow him to maintain concentration for an accurate and powerful blow in the later rounds. But the Belarusian was careful. As a result, before the final twelfth round, the battle was held without any memorable events. Briggs imposed his tactics and, therefore, had a psychological advantage.
The American understood that Lyakhovich leads insignificantly on points, and remembered the opponent’s powerful blow missed in the first seconds. Therefore, Briggs went all-in and almost the first accurate hit on the right in the jaw, for which the whole battle had accumulated strength, sent the Belarusian to knockdown. Lyakhovich rose, but his "drunk" face and legs showed that he could not recover quickly. Briggs understood that too. And, as soon as the judge gave the command to continue the match, a powerful blow to the case knocked Sergei off the ropes. The referee had no choice but to stop the fight.
America waited for at least some of its hero. Now she will have someone to root for in a unification battle. No, for good reason, not for fun, at a press conference, King, raising his portrait of Nikolai Valuev above his head, said: "All roads lead to the Giant."
Andrey IVANTSOV