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3 unusual facts about George Foreman vs. Shannon Briggs


George Foreman vs. Shannon Briggs

Unofficial HBO scorer Harold Lederman had Foreman clearly winning the fight at 116–112 (eight rounds to four), but none of the three official scorers had Foreman the victor.

However, despite his impressive record, his one loss had been a third round knockout against Darroll "Doin' Damage" Wilson on HBO the previous year which halted his momentum and hurt his status as one of the premier up-and-coming heavyweights.

As he had not been beaten for either title, Foreman remained the Lineal champion and successfully defended that crown (as well as the lowly regarded WBU heavyweight title) against then-undefeated prospects Crawford Grimsley and Lou Savarese.


George Foreman vs. Tommy Morrison

However, Foreman decided to challenge the newly crowned WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Michael Moorer for his titles to which Moorer accepted.

After WBO Heavyweight champion Michael Moorer opted to vacate the title in February of 1993, the WBO sanctioned a match between popular 44-year-old ex-WBC and WBA heavyweight champion George Foreman and the then-up-and-coming 24-year-old prospect Tommy Morrison to determine who would be the next WBO Heavyweight champion.

Morrison first agreed to defend his newly won title against his Rocky V co-star Michael Williams in what was billed as real-life Tommy Gunn vs. Union Cane (the characters that Morrison and Williams played in the film) matchup.

Lennox Lewis vs. Shannon Briggs

Though many assumed that Foreman had won the match, (both Harold Lederman and the associated press had Foreman ahead by four points on their unofficial scorecards) the three judges saw differently.


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