Iceman John Scully analyzes Shannon “The Cannon”
Former light heavyweight contender-turned-trainer and analyst “Iceman” John Scully has weighed in on the recent bout between Vitali Klitschko and Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs. Scully wanted to understand why men like Briggs would never consider quitting
in the face of insurmountable odds.
Referring to bouts in which one man is clearly demolishing the other, Scully said that there comes a moment when “two things can happen.” Either the losing fighter accepts that he will not be able to win and quits, or he accepts it but decides at “all costs
to gain a moral victory of sorts, if not over his opponent than a victory over himself.” This entails simply not quitting.
In their recent October bout, Briggs went the distance with a visibly superior Klitschko, and refused to pack it in even after it became brutally obvious he would not win the fight. Instead he absorbed shots for twelve rounds and reportedly told his corner
not to stop the fight.
Understandably, Briggs and his corner, along with the referee, received heavy criticism for not stopping the bout.
Afterwards Briggs was forced to spend the better part of a week in a Hamburg hospital with fractured cheekbones, a concussion, and a broken nose.
“I have showed I am a champion, even though I have lost,” Briggs said. “I may be ugly, but I am fine.”
Scully’s points were acutely relevant when he said some fighters don’t “want to live with the anguish of knowing [they] submitted physically and mentally to that opponent. [These] Fighters at their core generally have a different way of thinking and a different
way of rationalizing things than people who don't fight would.”
Briggs said recently he looks to fight on, even though he has not formally announced a future opponent.
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