After two months, four "final" deadlines and endless hours of haggling over a ridiculously long 50-page fight contract, Briggs finds himself in the same place he was back in June when the deal was supposedly 90 per cent done -- nowhere. Briggs, whose last memory of a championship fight was of Lennox Lewis's boxing shoes seen from ground level, has another foot standing on his chest in "Air Finkel" sneakers. 

At 34, Shannon Briggs is ready to go all-in with his chips. He is painfully aware he squandered a wealth of youthful talent and opportunity in the pursuit of good times. What he got to show for his shenanigans were some bad times, and then some really bad times (see: Sedreck Fields). The career of Shannon Briggs can be summed up by the title of a cult Sixties novel by Richard Farina: "I've Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me."

Yeh, Shannon, a fight with Klitschko would be your "High Noon," and nobody will be casting you as Gary Cooper. Should you lose, you will probably not live to fight another day, at least in any meaningful boxing way. In the other corner, Klitschko doesn't have God on his side, but he's got boxing deity Finkel and a multi-fight contract with HBO, which means if he loses he gets a second chance - or is it a third, fourth or fifth, who's counting anymore?

All Briggs has going for him are two powerful fists, an underrated trainer named "The Other Mayweather," and an iron will to survive which was pounded into him on the badass streets of Brownsville, where Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe cut their teeth ? pardon the dental reminder, Mr. Holyfield. The same sttreets on which Briggs fought every day as a kid and sometimes slept in alleys after he and his mom were evicted from their apartment and spent two and a half years homeless.

That is why, despite his long ordeal waiting for Finkel's John Hancock, Briggs has refused to give in to emotional wipeout. 

In the words of the 19th Century Don King, Friedrich Nietzsche -- "What ever does not destroy Briggs, makes him stronger."

"All my life I have been in survival mode," Briggs said. "So when something like this happens, I resort back to the things I learned to do in Brownsville, to just keep myself going on and not give up."

Take a ride with me and Shannon on the "Briggs Roller Coaster." Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride. 

SATURDAY, AUG. 12, Rahman vs. Maskaev, a Brownsville type of day for Briggs. According to Shannon, Finkel had told him only a week before this WBC title bout that, "1,000% we were doing the fight." Yet Briggs discovers that not only is Finkel ringside, but he has also told selected media he was waiting to see who wins before announcing Klitschko's opponent on Nov. 11. To Briggs, this feels like a sucker punch.

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

"I'm trying to hang in there, but these guys keep screwing around with me. Shelly sent a 50-page contract that needed a lot of work. We sent it back with the changes. I'm sure he took as long as he did so he could wait for the results of tonight's fight. Who ever heard of taking six weeks to get a contract sent back!

I believe they're hoping for Maskaev to win to try and make Klitschko vs Maskaev in the Garden. I'm not sure how that would sell in the Garden but hey, I'm only pissed because I turned down the (WBA champ Nikolay) Valuev fight and two other fights for Klitschko."

Of the two boxers that night, Rahman marginally had the better market value, but he sells short on Finkel and gets knocked out by a guy who moved to Staten Island, a place people leave, not immigrate to. A Rolling Stones fan, Shelly Finkel is heard singing in the arena afterwards:

"You can't always get what you want/
you can't always get what you want/
but if you try sometimes you just might find/
you get what you need

Maskaev may be Cinderella in drag, but all Finkel sees written on the back of Oleg's boxing robe is, "Anyone-But-Briggs." Immediately after the fight, Finkel offers Maskaev's wily manager, Dennis Rappaport, the bout that for two months has had Briggs' name stamped on it.

It is not an open-ended offer -- or so it seems -- because Finkel is booked on a cruise ship leaving from Europe the coming Wednesday and wants it done by the time he hits the deck lounge chair. So Rappaport is given a deadline, the first of what would prove to be four "final" deadlines – decide by Monday, Finkel says, or (gulp, grrrrr) Briggs gets the fight.

SUNDAY. Briggs receives some inside info and blows an email fuse:

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

"Shelly is really trying to fuck me around badly. They're trying to buy the title from Maskaev by offering him 3 million. They say Rappaport wants 5 million. Finkel just wants to beat a guy that in no way can be prepared by Nov. 11.

MONDAY. Briggs hears from a seemingly reliable source that he's got the fight. He breaks the good news to his former manager, Michael Marley, executive editor of FightNightNews:

"I am so happy," Briggs tells Marley. "I said before I will decapitate Klitschko, and all this drama back and forth has really lit a fire under my butt. I will decapitate the man for real on November 11. Brooklyn will be in the house and I will win the IBF title for sure."

But Briggs' euphoria is short-lived. Monday, the clock keeps ticking and the phone only rings when it is somebody who is not named Finkel. Mid-day, Briggs learns that the deadline for an answer from Rappaport is not set in stone, what else is new.

3 p.m.

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

"Shelly read Marley's article and went crazy! He (Finkel) was also told to expect a law suit from Scott Hirsch (Briggs' manager). And that Klitchsko would be getting sued as well with K2 (Klitschko promoter).
5 p.m.

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

We think tomorrow to be the deadline. I can't see this going anywhere past Tuesday, the latest. HBO will need to promote the fight. Again, I know for a fact that my manager will be suing. He has emails and correspondence between Shelly and himself asking me to pull out of my scheduled fight last month. Also we've been doing so many interviews promoting the fight. Believe me, we might have a (court) fight on our hands, but we have grounds." (Briggs was scheduled to fight aging journeyman Darroll Wilson, who had knocked him out 10 years ago, on July 26, but pulled out)

5:30 p.m.

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

I just got off the phone with Ced (Cedrick Kushner, Briggs' promoter) and he told me that Shelly said tomorrow is the day and that it was 90% (for me). I can't see HBO doing me dirty. I mean I'm a natural at the Garden. I would do my part to sell and promote the fight. I'm hoping for the best. So far I hear it's up to Maskaev and they have not called, so if they (Maskaev) do not make it happen, I'm going to beat the shit out Wlad! I can't wait. It's going to be a tough fight but I've been waiting all my life for this."

As it turns out, apparently Rappaport, whose ripe 37-year-old fighter has back, elbow and thumb problems, isn't ready to make a decision. Briggs hears that and wonders if it is a good sign. It's not. Finkel extends the deadline until 6 p.m. on his day of departure, Wednesday. More wishing and hoping, and planning and dreaming for Shannon Briggs. (My mother was fond of saying to me, "Wish in one hand, shit in the other." I have never figured out what that meant, but it seems to apply here.)

I contact Kushner. What's the deal, Ced? Looks like you're getting jerked around. Kushner is blunt, which is probably better than bleak, or maybe he is that, too.

"The Briggs side has no input on this," Kushner said flatly. "The Briggs side wants the fight. Period. End of story." Kushner sighs, then says: "Can you imagine the pressure on Shannon."

Yes, Cedric, I can. 

TUESDAY. Less than 24 hours before Finkel sails off into the sunset. Still without signed contract, Briggs rents "The Titanic" and thinks of Shelly.

9 p.m.

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

Yeah, Finkel leaves tomorrow. I'm trying to wait until the working day is over to speak my mind. Or at least let them know that I waited for the contract for 2 entire months, and that I received it last Monday and that it was crazy. Fifty pages of craziness!!! Shelly gave me his word in a phone conversation that I indeed had the fight. Hey, like we say in the hood," It is, what it is!"

Moments later, a second email arrives from Briggs. Normally unafraid to speak his mind, Briggs censors himself:

"You can't mention that yet. Please, give it until tomorrow evening past 6 pm. Shelly is looking for an excuse not to fight me. He got really sarcastic with my manager today. I'm only pissed because Shelly told Tim Smith at the Daily News that he purposely didn't give me a contract. Tim called him a sly fox. I feel like telling Tim that the truth is I have a contract and that we've been going back and forth trying to take out the back-to-slavery clauses that are in for the rematch.

2 a.m.

I'm still awake, reading Arianna Huffington (I like my women sassy) when, Ping! I've got mail! Shannon is reaching out by himself to K2 Promotions.

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

"Tom Loeffler (K2 Managing Director) is my boy! I called him but I'm sure he didn't recognize my new number, but he'll call me back. Once I speak to him I'm sure I'll know what's going on. By the way, so far I've turned down Valuev, Sergei Licawhatever (WBO champ Lyakhovich), an eliminator in Germany for the WBO number one spot against Krasnickyclaus (Luan Krasniqi), a fight on HBO against Malik Scott, and a fight against Fres Oquendo. Not to mention a movie and an appearance on the HBO show Entourage." 

2:30 a.m.

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

"I'm on the phone with a reliable source who just spoke to Maskaev's trainer, and he (trainer) said hell no! No way no how! And that Finkel has upset the K2 people and they are looking to oust him. Oleg is hurting, and will not be taking the fight! 

WEDNESDAY, 5 p.m. Tuesday night euphoria gives way to the dawn of another day of bad karma. Instant replay: new deadline. Finkel will start his cruise without a deal, but has now given Rappaport until Friday to decide. Briggs cues up a Beatles song:

"I think I'm gonna be sad,
I think it's today, yeah.
The girl that's driving me mad
Is going away.

She's got a ticket to ride,
She's got a ticket to ride,
But she don't care" 

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

"HBO is giving Finkel until Friday to make it happen. If this guy (Klitschko) is so tuff, and to (HBO commentator Larry) Merchant I'm a fighter that he can beat easy, why all the fuss about the rematch? That's part of the stall tactic. Send a contract that we would have to go back and forth with until they could bandage Maskaev up and wheel chair him to the ring."

FRIDAY. 

In the immortal words of Michael Corleone, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!" The never-ending deadline for Rappaport is extended yet again, until Monday. Remarkably, Briggs still hangs chilly. He may live in a gated community in Ft. Lauderdale now, but this feels like the ‘hood and he knows how to deal with that. Memories return, he puts them in his email.

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

"Survival mode again. This morning when I heard, I went to my strength and conditioning coach and did drills. I just have to keep myself going. I have no choice. I did the same thing when my mom died on my birthday, Dec. 4, 1996, and when my dad died. My stepfather, who raised me, died in prison. Same thing. Keep going on.

What hurts the most is that I have a family. It'd be easier to take if it was just me, I could live on the streets again if I had to. But I have a wife and two kids. My experience from Brownsville tells me this is the way it is supposed to be, and I can't do nothing about it. Somebody who hadn't experienced what I have, they wouldn't know what to do.

My first year in high school, I was like 13 or 14, I came home from school one day and the kids where I lived all told me that me and my mom had been evicted, that they had come and packed up our stuff and taken it away in a truck.

I went upstairs. They had knocked out the lock, put a chain through the hole. I looked through the hole, the apartment was empty. I remember it was a real long walk back outside. I called my mother. She was staying with my aunt. She was hysterical, crying. My mom was a working nurse, she always worked, but she was a drug addict. She battled the addiction the best she could. My mother had worked hard to get me into private school, Bishop McLaughlin. After I was evicted, there was no more school.

For the next two and a half years, we lived from place to place, at relatives, friends, sometimes we were homeless and lived in shelters. Some nights I had to sleep on a subway train. When we stayed with people, my mother would say, ‘Sleep on the couch, Shannon' but I didn't feel it was right, so I slept on the floor.

"They call Maskaev the Cinderella Man, but nobody tells my story. Why? Because it's such a common story in black America. It's been told before. That's okay. I don't care about my story being told. I just want to support my family. I walk on the streets, people see me today, I have a smiling face. They can't see the battle scars within.

Keep the faith' Briggs

MONDAY

Faith is what Rappaport is placing doctors, hoping to put Humpty Dumpty Maskaev together again for one last big payday. Maskaev goes to two different surgeons. Time flies when you're not having fun. Afternoon gives way to evening. Is no news good news or bad news? Who the hell knows. Briggs is starting to feel like a guy on death row waiting for a call from the Governor. Marley gets an update and writes:

"The wait continues. Now Dennis Rappaport, promoter of newly-crowned WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev, informs FightNightNews that the fighter have his left elbow examined by a Manhattan specialist on Tueday. Meanwhile, Shannon Briggs is on standby and IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko is not sure who he will defending his crown against on HBO on November 11 at Madison Square Garden.

Maksaev had his left thumb checked out by noted New York hand surgeon and boxing expert Dr. Charles P. Melone on Monday, The thumb was given the okay but then Maskaev complained about his left elbow. Dr. Melone has referred the new champ to an associate who handles elbow injuries."

TUESDAY

Humpty Dumpty needs to see another specialist on Wednesday. Rumor circulates that Finkel is targeting WBO champ Sergei Lyakhovich. I call his manager, Ivalyo Gotzev. Gotzev shoots it down.

"We're not talking to Finkel, they have no interest in a real challenge like Sergei," Gotzev said. "Monday Shelly told me that at this time they are not looking to make this fight."

Gotzev volunteers that Finkel has done Briggs dirty. "It's a joke how he (Finkel) strung him along for three months all the way to the ‘11th round,'" Gotzev said.

Will the 12th round even come?

From: Shannonbriggs@yahoo.com: To: NatGottlieb@adelphia.com

Everyone I spoke to knows nothing. This is absolutely the worst situation to be in. Shelly Finkel is a bad person. He's 1000x's worse then Don King. At least with King you can get a contract on the first day. Shelly and his crew used me to get the date with the Nov 11th Garden.

WEDNESDAY

Rumors are like buttholes, they are everywhere. Klitschko might bypass Finkel and make the deal, (Klitschko might fight Lyakhovich instead) Maskaev could face the knife for an aching elbow, having CAT scan in the afternoon…Gotzev asks me for Briggs' phone number, might try to make Briggs-Klitschko, who knows?: Gotzev, a Bulgarian maverick (do they have cowboys in Bulgaria?) has cut deals before without using his promoter (King in this case). When Toney-Peter was not going down, Gotzev, who managed Toney for four fights leading up to his victory over Vassily Jirov and was on good terms with him, called Toney and got it made for his fighter, Peter.

All of which and two bucks (used to be a nickel, does Finkel run the MTA?) will get you a subway seat on a train going from Brooklyn to nowhere, ask Shannon Briggs, he rides it every day lately.

Bottom line. As of 4 p.m. Briggs still in Boxing Purgatory, Finkel is celebrating his anniversary on a cruise ship somewhere in the Mediterranean, and Klitschko is getting antsy in the Ukraine. Maybe Special K will run for Mayor of Kiev, Briggs can be Brooklyn Burrough President and Maskaev can grow four inches and be Gerry Cooney and break Rappaport's heart.

Stay tuned, and while you're tune, check out Briggs' favorite Dylan song:

"All Along The Watchtower"

"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them a long the line know what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."