GL: Can you give us some thoughts on the Shannon Briggs-Sultan Ibragimov fight? "It will be an amazing fight. Shannon Briggs is big and tough and he tries to catch you and knock you out. My guy is not so big, but he's the toughest guy in the division. He's not a big guy like Shannon Briggs, but he hits very hard which everyone knows about. This should be a tremendous fight, we're working out very hard here in Florida. I don't know where Shannon Briggs is making his preparation but they have a good team and we have a good team so we're expecting it to be a great fight.

GL: In his last fight against Ray Austin, Sultan didn't appear to be at his best. Can we expect to see him in better shape on March 10?

Boris Greenberg: "Of course. For that fight he was very heavy and it was our fault that we allowed him to prepare very heavy. He will come out for this fight like he did for Whitaker. Sultan isn't afraid of anybody no matter the size. He punches to the body and he punches to the head and you're going to see a very exciting fight. The middle rounds of the fight with Ray Austin were boring and the fight went twelve rounds. The only other time he was in this situation was with Zuri Lawrence, who went eleven rounds, but he was knocked down four times before he got finished. I don't think this fight will go so long.

"And Ray Austin is a very good fighter and people should not underestimate. He was prepared very well for his fight with Sultan and he was listening to his coach. He tried to fight with Sultan and he had Shannon Briggs in the corner with him and it was closer than it should be. But Shannon Briggs was telling Ray Austin not to fight Sultan. I hope Briggs doesn't follow his own advice."

GL: Do you expect Sultan to knock Shannon Briggs out?

BG: "Yes, everyone is expecting a knockout. If you ask Shannon Briggs I'm sure he'll tell you he's going to get a knockout. But before this fight with Ray Austin was telling us we would crush him, but this is a very tough business when you have a man 6'6 245 pounds in front of you. And Austin has a very big heart like Sultan and he doesn't give up. I'm not one to get into the bullshit and talking back and forth, but I think Sultan will knock him out. This will be a very good fight and people who think Sultan will knock him out in two or three rounds could be mistaken, Shannon Briggs is a tough fighter and he has a lot of experience. We've been working very hard and you're never going to see a boring Sultan again. He's not so big but he's very exciting. People show up to the gym to see how he's working and he's on right now. He's throwing three times more punches than any other heavyweight, he's a tremendous boxer and he's very smart."

GL: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

BG: "I want to thank Boxingtalk for the interview and boxing fans need to show up to Madison Square Garden on March 10 for a very exciting heavyweight championship fight."

M

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