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US heavyweight Shannon Briggs announces boxing comeback

He challenges Klitschko to fight

Shannon Briggs EPA/ANGELIKA WARMUTH

Shannon Briggs

© EPA/ANGELIKA WARMUTH

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American boxer Shannon Briggs disrupts Wladimir Klitschko training

NEW YORK, March 24. /ITAR-TASS/. US former (World Boxing Organisation) WBO heavyweight champion Shannon ‘The Cannon’ Briggs has announced his comeback to the ring after over three years break since the time of his previous bout, FightNews.com website reported on Monday.

According to the website, Briggs has scheduled two bouts for the next month with an interval of only one week between them. Although his contenders have not been named yet his first fight is scheduled for April 6 in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the next one for April 11 in Tampa, Florida.

The 42-year-old American boxer, who held the WBO title belt in 2006-2007, last fought in the ring in October of 2010, when he squared off with Ukraine’s Vitali Klitschko. ‘Dr. Ironfist’ Klitschko currently holds the (World Boxing Council) WBC title belt, but he wrapped up with boxing last December in favor of making a political career in Ukraine.

Although Briggs has been long absent from the ring, a video with the US boxer went viral on YouTube last week, when he interrupted a training session of Vitali’s younger brother Wladimir and threw a shoe at him.

“That was not the Shannon Briggs I know, but in a certain way that was him,” Wladimir Klitschko said commenting on the incident in the gym.

“I seriously did not understand what was going on,” Klitschko, who is (World Boxing Association) WBA, (International Boxing Federation) IBF, WBO and (International Boxing Organisation) IBO heavyweight belts current holder, added.

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