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11/11/2006
Although likely ticketed for a mandatory defense against Sultan Ibragimov next, Shannon Briggs made it clear he wants to unify the four splintered heavyweight titles. At a midtown Manhattan celebration of his last-second WBO title winning victory, a sleep-deprived but happy Briggs told the audience, "I've got an easy road [to unification] with these three bums out there." Briggs joked that he will attend the Wladimir Klitschko-Calvin Brock IBF title fight at Madison Square Garden tonight ready to serve as a last minute stand-in. "I'll have my trunks with me," said Briggs, "and if Brock doesn't come out from the back, I'll step up and knock Klitschko out." On a more serious note, Briggs' manager Scott Hirsch added, "Shannon is willing to sign any reasonable contract to fight the other champions." Boxing politics, however, is expected to delay unification until after Briggs faces Ibragimov. -Scott Shaffer
