The bell rings for round one
and "The Cannon" goes after
the "Wolf" by launching an
all-out
attack.............almost
like a mugging. The Wolf,
surprised by Briggs'
ferocity, backs off and
tries to tie him up, but
this time and unlike the
Lennox Lewis fight, the
dread locked fighter does
not let his opponent off the
hook and clubs him to the
canvas with heavy punches.
Sergei gets up at nine, but
is immediately pounced upon
by a whirlwind,
let-it-all-hang-out blitz
from his much bigger
opponent (Briggs weighs 268
pounds, 30 more than
Liakhovich).
The hurt Wolf hangs on for dear life
knowing that if he can take Briggs
into the late rounds, he may well
own him. But If he engages Shannon
as he did against Brewster, he may
not even get through the round. The
combination of Briggs' size and
bull-rush tactics seems to be
overwhelming him. One is reminded of
Andy Ganigan's blow out of favorite
Sean O'Grady and Lennox Lewis' quick
clubbing of "The Foul Pole. Sergei
barely survives the round and heads
for the wrong corner on unsteady
legs; he appears ripe for the
picking as his corner works
feverishly to revive him.
As round two starts, Briggs rushes
across the ring and unleashes a
brutal attack on a still-dazed
Liakhovich. Again, the White Wolf
goes down but this time it is a
strategic move as he takes the count
on one knee in order to gather
himself, a smart ploy. The expected
end almost comes as Briggs puts the
Belarusian down again with straight
and punishing rights. Shannon turns
to the crowd and raises his hands in
victory thinking the fight will be
stopped. Meanwhile, the referee
counts to nine and takes a long,
long look into Sergei's eyes. Sergei
holds his arms up and semi-gingerly
moves forward at the referee 's
command. Surprisingly, he is allowed
to continue, but he admonished to
fight back.
At this point a
not-so-subtle change occurs.
When Shannon turns back to
see a determined Wolf still
standing, his spirit visibly
depletes like air rushing
out of a balloon. Still, he
comes on and hits him with
blows that surely would have
decked anybody else. The
game Belarusian warrior
survives the round and the
amazed crowd is up and
roaring in his behalf. He
has won them over.
Round three is a different
kind of round as a rapidly
tiring Briggs and a slowly
but determinedly recovering
Liakhovich both take the
round "off" to recover, a
terrible strategic mistake
on Briggs' part. Has he let
the Wolf off the hook?
