NEW YORK --- So was Shannon Briggs feeling dissed by his Brownsville homey? “A little,” admitted the WBO heavyweight champion, who had just gotten word that Mike Tyson had enlisted in the army of the enemy.
Tyson, awaiting trial on drug possession charges in Arizona, last week petitioned Maricopa County judge Sherry Stephens for permission to travel outside the jurisdiction.
Judge Stephens granted the request, provided Tyson notified the court three days in advance. Yesterday, according to Sultan Ibragimov’s manager Boris Grinberg, Tyson sought and received permission to attend Saturday night’s fight in Atlantic City, where he will be on hand to lend support to Ibragimov, a fellow Muslim.
“He’s from Brownsville, same as I am,” said Briggs, who confessed to feeling slighted by Tyson’s defection.
On the other hand, Tyson may walk the Sultan into the ring, but he can’t fight for him.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” insisted Briggs. “(Ibragimov) can have Jesus in his corner for all I care.”
Ironically, though Tyson may accompany Ibragimov into the ring, Don King may not be there. Although the world’s greatest promoter has a contractual piece of Briggs, he remains persona non grata in New Jersey, which has already informed Warriors Boxing’s Leon Margules in no uncertain terms that King is prohibited from sharing in the financial proceeds of Saturday’s title bout.
We’re just guessing that King will find a way to receive his end. Whether he will be allowed to stand in the ring waving his little flags before the fight is another matter.
“That would be a commission issue,” said Margules, who said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Chairman Larry Hazzard allows DK some TV face time.
Although Saturday’s bout will take place in New Jersey, Wednesday’s gathering at Gallagher’s restaurant was the third lunchtime press conference this year for Briggs and Ibragimov, including one at a Russian bistro early in the year to announce their aborted March 10 date at Madison Square Garden and another at the Copacabana last month to announce this date.
The fight will represent the first defense for the 35 year-old Briggs (48-4-1), the onetime linear champion who resuscitated his career last year with a last-second (literally) knockout of Sergei Liakhovich to break the Soviet-bloc stranglehold on the heavyweight titles.
Ibragimov (20-0-1), a 32 year-old southpaw from the boxing hotbed of Rostov-na-Donu, earned the title shot by fighting Ray Austin to a draw last June. He has fought once since: When Briggs came down with pneumonia and was forced to withdraw from the March fight, the Sultan fought substitute Javier Mora, and knocked him out in 46 seconds.
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Margules announced that a portion of the proceeds from Saturday night’s card at Boardwalk Hall would be donated to the Leavander Johnson Foundation, a charity set up to aid the late lightweight champion’s children set up by promoter Lou DiBella. Johnson’s brother Craig was on hand at Gallagher’s. Hazzard, apparently miffed that the press conference for an Atlantic City fight was taking place in New York, was not, nor were any representatives of the nominal hosts, Bally’s and Caesars.
The independently-produced PPV telecast for Saturday’s card has been priced at $29.95. Veterans Barry Tompkins and Al Bernstein will call the action for a show that will include undercard fights pitting former heavyweight challenger Calvin Brock ( 30-1) against Puerto Rican Alex Gonzalez (18-4), unbeaten Dominican middleweight Giovanni Lorenzo (23-0) vs. Illinois journeyman Bruce Rumbolz (21-12-5), and 29-1 German light-heavy Robert Stieglitz against Newark’s Marlon Hayes (23-6).
