Francois Botha vs Shannon Briggs - Highlights (SOLID SLUGFEST)

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August 7th, 1999. Top contenders “The White Buffalo” Francois Botha took on Shannon “The Canon” Briggs in the undercard of the Marco Antonio Barrera vs Pastor Humberto Maurin main event.

Prefight records; Botha 39(24)-2, Briggs 31(25)-2.

Briggs was the aggressor from the opening bell and managed to land the first power shot with his left hand but it did not take long before Botha set up his jab and find the range for his overhand right in round 1. From then on, Francois managed to connect frequently and accurately while Shannon was mostly able to land clean blows every now and then.

With about 25 seconds left to end round 7, Briggs was badly hurt by a barrage of Botha blows.

For the most part of round 8, Francois overwhelmed Shannon who’s mouthpiece was knocked out at one point where timeout was called for a replacement.

However, Briggs came back strong after the fight was resumed and scored a surprising knockdown with a fusillade of hard punches. Botha began to bleed from the left eye after he beat the count.

In round 9, Francois rebounded and beat an exhausted Shannon to the punch once again.

In the final round, both got off to a good start but Botha went on to dominate all the way till the final bell with his unrelenting rights that busted Briggs badly; he was bleeding out of his left eye and ear while largely unable to return fire due to fatigue in addition to being badly shook up by the accumulation of punishment.

After 30 minutes of action, the 3 judges controversially had it a 3 way draw with scores of 92-95 & 94-94 (2x) despite the fact that The White Buffalo had apparently connected with the better punches despite being floored in round 8.

In the eyes of most observers, the South African fighter who twice challenged for the IBF World Heavyweight Title was robbed of a well deserved victory.

As for Shannon Briggs, this was the most painful moment of his career;

"The fight against Botha. I did everything the right way, just had a bad chain of events happen. I tore my left bicep before the fight. I had an ulcer the size of a dime in my stomach. I trained for the fight in Big Bear thinking the altitude would be good for me. Terrible. I couldn't run in the morning, it was too cold. It was just everything. That was heartbreaking. After the second round I was gasping for air. Botha broke my rib. Cauliflower ears. Stitches over both eyes. Hung in there for ten rounds. I was fortunate to get a draw. He really gave me a beating, physically. And mentally I was really down on myself, because the fight was so hard, grueling."

What do you guys think of the outcome of this fight? Let me know in the comments.'

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Видео Francois Botha vs Shannon Briggs - Highlights (SOLID SLUGFEST) канала Jeff Jackson