Shannon Briggs Targets World Title After Announcing Come Back

Two-time heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs announced a 2018 comeback on Thursday, after serving a doping ban.

The 46-year-old American said he will try to become boxing’s oldest-ever heavyweight champion when he makes his return, which would surpass George Foreman’s feat at the age of 45.

“I’m really happy to be getting back into training and I want to fight in 2018,” Briggs said in a statement

“This past year was a tough year for me. It has been a long road, with many twists and turns, but I battled through it and feel good about the future.”

Briggs was issued a six-month ban by the WBA for failing a doping test with elevated testosterone levels ahead of a cancelled June title fight against Fres Oquendo for a secondary WBA heavyweight crown. Briggs completed the suspension period last month.

Briggs beat Foreman in 1997 for the lineal heavyweight crown but was stopped in the fifth round in 1998 when he challenged Lennox Lewis for the WBC crown.

In 2006, Briggs stopped Siarhei Liakhovich of Belarus in the 12th round to claim the WBO title but dropped a unanimous 2007 decision to Russian Sultan Ibragimov in his first defence of the crown.

Since losing a 12-round decision to Ukraine’s Vitali Klitschko in 2010, Briggs has won nine consecutive fights, the most recent a May 2016 first-round knockout in London over Argentina’s Emilio Zarate.