Wladimir Klitschko has no intention of coming out of retirement to fight compatriot and Ukrainian standout Oleksandr Usyk.
But the former heavyweight champion has contemplated an unlikely comeback and could be tempted to box another opponent.
Shannon Briggs, the former world champion who has happily mocked Wladimir Klitschko and boxed his older brother Vitali in the past, is backing the division’s elder statesmen to return.
“Nothing is impossible,” Briggs said Sky Sports. “As we know, mankind has done amazing things.”
The American admires Klitschko. “He’s a tough guy to become a heavyweight champion and fight for your country at the cost of so many lives. That’s a real champion, a real strong man. That’s great for boxing,” Briggs said.
“I’d love to fight him, it’s no secret. Can’t take anything away from him as a fighter, as a person.”
Tyson Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko in 2015
Returning to boxing at such an advanced age is dangerous, but Briggs, who is even older than Klitschko at 53, now wants to prepare himself.
“You can take an old car and you can restore it. You can put new wheels, new spark plugs, and that car runs like a brand new car. That’s how it feels to me “, he insisted.
“Anything is possible, you can turn back time.
“Age is no longer a factor.”
But venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum, who guided 45-year-old George Foreman to become the sport’s oldest heavyweight champion, provided a dose of realism.
Oleksandr Usyk celebrates with Wladimir Klitschko (Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom)
“Remember, when Foreman came back, it wasn’t 45, when he came back, it was more like 41, and he had already lost to (Evander) Holyfield, and he was tested so he knew where he was. But it “The idea that Klitschko has to come back now at 48, with no fights in between, seems a little out of the question,” Arum said. Sky Sports.
“It seems so,” he added. “I just don’t know. I’ve always been a big fan of the two Klitschkos, but I’m not sure.
“It’s hard for me to believe that Klitschko can come back and fight for the heavyweight championship without the interim fights. It’s just hard to believe.”
The Briggs Case
Although his return to boxing would be controversial, Briggs is also fulfilling another of his dreams, starting a boxing club with an academy that trains for other roles in New York’s Brownsville neighborhood.
Briggs brings boxing club to Brownsville (AP Photo/Martin Meissner).
“I’ve been motivated to do this since I was a little kid, a homeless teenager sleeping in a boxing gym as a shelter,” Briggs said. Sky Sports.
“I’m opening a boxing academy in Brownsville, Brooklyn, my home, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, the great Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Zab Judah, Danny Jacobs, Curtis Stevens and our new rising star Bruce Carrington.
“If we can have six or seven boxing champions (from Brownsville), which is only 1.8 miles in size, even half the size of Hyde Park in England, 100,000 people live in this neighborhood, even two miles in size, that tells me: There must be something in the water.
“When you have a neighborhood with violence and pain, you tend to have people who literally struggle to get out of it. Mike Tyson is one of those people.”
