Former world heavyweight boxing champion, Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs, at the age of 48, is still hoping to get another crack at a world championship belt.
The Brooklyn born boxer turned pro in 1992 and has a record of (60-6-1-1, 53 KOs). His strongest attribute is his punching power with 37 of his 53 knockouts ending in the first round.
Briggs last fought in 2016 against Emilio Zarate and won by first round KO. He has never officially announced his retirement from the ring.
The closet Briggs has been to a professional boxing ring since 2016 was working the corner of YouTube star Logan Paul for his rematch with KSI at the Staples Center on November 9, 2019.
Even though Briggs hasn’t fought in three years, he told Fight Hype that Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao getting knocked out cold by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 and coming back from that loss to achieve so much inspires him to continue fighting.
“He’s [Pacquiao] an animal, he motivates me because people say Shannon you are too old and I don’t even think about it no more,” Briggs told Fight Hype. “When Manny Pacquiao got knocked out by [Juan Manuel] Marquez, the moment he hit him with that right hand and it was so short, I said to myself when he went face down asleep and out, I said yo he will never fight again. I was 100 percent wrong! I was a billion percent wrong! I said he [Pacquiao] will never fight again. He was fighting like less than six months later I think, winning and beating people up like it never happened. He was fighting people for the title within a year like it never happened. I never seen a man like that. If you get hit like that it was like a gun shot, a sniper hit him and he just fell out. He was out and he came back like it never happened.”
The heavyweight knockout artist well known for his signature “Let’s Go Champ” chant never witnessed anything like Pacquiao and thinks he is a special human being to overcome such a vicious one punch KO.
“What was his mentality the next day or the following day and then to go back to the gym and work out?” asked a curious Briggs. “I know my first knockout loss, and I was devastated. He [Pacquiao] is a different type of human being. I was devastated to an emotional point. This man came back within a year and won a title. Going back into wars like it never happened. This is an unbelievable type of human being. That right there, I never seen anything like that. A man getting knocked out and to come right back taking hard fights like it never happened. He’s just another type of fighter.”
Manny Pacquiao has been an inspiration not only in the world of boxing, but also for his humanitarian efforts. The 41-year-old Filipino Senator has donated money to help build homes for the poor in his country and also established the Manny Pacquiao foundation to help those less fortunate.
Pacquiao’s next fight could be in either April or May of 2020 with either Danny Garcia, Errol Spence Jr. or Shawn Porter as possible options for his first WBA welterweight world title defense.
