Ibragimov v. Briggs Betting Odds
June 10, 2008
Even with the heavyweight division having lost most of the interest of the general public, the Ibragimov Briggs odds are posted and is a fight for the WBO Heavyweight title. The funny thing is that the champion, Shannon “Brooklyn” Briggs, is the underdog in this matchup to the challenger, Sultan Ibragimov. Briggs has been around forever it seems like and has held the heavyweight title once before back in 1998 when he beat George Foreman in a controversial decision. He is now 36 and is coming off a big win against Sergei Liakhovich by TKO in the 12th and final round back on June 2, 2007. The win brought Briggs’ record to 48-4 with 42 knockouts, the last knockout was a savior as well because Briggs was losing the bout in all three judges’ scorecards before the knockout.
Ibragimov is a 32 year old Russian fighter that is currently ranked as high as #3 in the world by the WBO. The two other organizations rank him rather highly as well with the IBF putting him at #5 in the heavyweight division and the WBA rated him at #9. The former Soviet Union has apparently been dominating the heavyweight division lately and Ibragimov is no exception to that rule. He is undefeated at 20-0-1 with his only draw coming back on July 28th to Ray Austin in an IBF Heavyweight title eliminator. His last fight occurred on March 10th against Javier Mora. He was supposed to face Briggs for the title, but when Briggs became sick Ibragimov fought Mora instead and knocked him out in 46 seconds, which is a Madison Square Garden record for speed.
This is an interesting fight to see who can settle the heavyweight division down a little bit. The sport needs a unified champion, and Briggs probably isn’t the one who is going to do it, but Ibragimov could possibly be that guy.
BetUS:
Sultan Ibragimov
-200
Shannon Briggs
+160
Sportsbook.com:
Sultan Ibragimov
-215
Shannon Briggs
+175