THE GREATNESS OF LENNOX LEWIS AND FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. AND THE GAMENESS OF SHANNON BRIGGS AND ARTURO GATTI
By Jim Amato

December 21, 2006 - I had the great treat of watching replays this weekend of Lennox Lewis vs Shannon Briggs and Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Arturo Gatti.Within the realm of these bouts I saw and respected two things. Tremendous talent and equally tremendous courage.

LEWIS-BRIGGS...

Lennox was the cream of the heavyweight division but Briggs had just come off a disputed victory over George Foreman who was, by all rights the linear heavyweight champion.George had beaten Moorer who had beaten Holyfield who had beaten Buster Douglas who had beaten Tyson. Case closed.

Lennox knew that by beating Briggs he would solidify his status as being the best heavyweight of his era. Briggs started fast and late in the first round he rocked Lennox on a couple of occasions. After that Lennox took over and he dominated Briggs flooring him on several occasions. Finally the fine referee Frank Cappuccino had seen enough and ended the battle in round five.

I've never been a big Lennox Lewis fan but he showed great size, physical condition and talent. Was he the best heavyweight of all time ? No...But he would have been a very serious opponent to any of the past greats.

Briggs who is now the WBO titleholder and that shows us how weak the division is. I have little doubt that if Lewis would step out of retirement now he would whip Shannon. I don't care how big Briggs has become. His gain in size has diminished his best asset, speed. He stands like a statue in the ring. Lewis didn't miss too many right hands back when Shannon could move. Lennox wouldn't miss any now. To Shannon's credit he showed the heart of a true champion against Lewis. He took some monster shots. He went down but he kept getting up. I will always have a healthy respect for the grit and heart of Shannon Briggs.

MAYWEATHER JR. vs GATTI

Who's the best fighter pound for pound in the world today ? That's a no brainer...Floyd Mayweather Jr. He is the Sugar Ray Leonard and Roy Jones Jr. of the era. I am just in awe of his talent. Against a dead game Arturo Gatti it was target practice. In this bout three things stuck with me. Of course the tremendous talent of the gifted Mayweather. The never say die courage of Gatti and last but not least, the compassion of Gatti's trainer Buddy McGirt. Buddy was a fine fine fighter in his own right in his day. He won titles in two weight divisions. Now he has to be considered among the elite of today's trainers. What impressed me was how he stopped this hopeless crusade Arturo was waging against Mayweather. Buddy knew there was no quit in Arturo. He was willing to go out on his shield. McGirt showed the love for his fighter that the great Eddie Futch showed for Joe Frazier in Manila. I will always have high regard for Mr. McGirt.