Former heavyweight world champion Shannon Briggs has become more known as a figure of fun in recent years, mainly for showing up at various random events (boxing or otherwise) and bellowing his trademark “Let’s go champ!” chant.
However, in a recent interview MSCS Media, Briggs showed a more insightful side, and looked back on a heavyweight from his era who “changed the world.”
It will come of no surprise that ‘Shannon the Cannon’ was describing the legendary Mike Tyson.
“One man changed the world, and that’s Mike Tyson. He changed the entire world, because when Mike Tyson came out and he was doing his thing, everyone was watching boxing, everyone wanted to box and everyone wanted to be like Mike Tyson!”
“He was making all the money, he was crazy and he made you want to watch. There’ll never be another Mike Tyson.”
“Everyone wanted to be a heavyweight! There was more heavyweights than ever in the history of boxing in the 1990s, because of Mike Tyson!”
Many felt Tyson was invincible in his prime years in the late 1980s, when he became undisputed heavyweight world champion aged just 21.
Despite still holding the record for the youngest heavyweight world champion in the history of the sport there is still a lingering view that somehow Tyson failed to fulfil his potential, due to the derailing of his career by a jail stint in the first half of the 1990s, which were still some of his prime years.
‘Iron Mike’ is unrecognisable to the man who was sent behind bars, and cuts a much more mellow figure these days.