By Bradley Yeh

Click Here To Read To Read Parts 1, 2 & 3.

Fast forward through Brigg’s career, 8 months after Jesus Ruiz, zoom in and you’d find Briggs residing across the pacific ocean upon American shores being trained by Jack Mosley in California, and ready to catapult into the ratings at a contention point numerically impossible to ignore. It’s well known axiom that if you want to make it in boxing, and if you truly hold promise at some time, you must come to the USA.

So Briggs went to America.

At the time Jack Mosley was temporarily estranged from his star-son Sugar Shane Mosley and he didn’t have another boxing distraction. Well not one that was as promising as Briggs anyway. Consequently the doors of Jack Mosley’s gym opened wide and invited Paul Briggs in. Boxing can be ruthless, not just to its participants, but also to trainers. Fighters come and go, but very rarely do boxing trainers get to express their viewpoints when the separation is not amicable. Needless to say Briggs’ installation into Mosley’s gym must have been favourably received after Shane’s exodus, as seldom is the occurrence that another champion seeks your services just as one with the popularity and skills as Shane has depart.

As the old adage goes; as one door closes another opens.

In reciprocation Briggs also benefited from Mosley’s skills and experience, and of course a selection pool of sparring opponents that only California could offer.

In simple terms, a rule that has generally been inescapable in modern day fighting is; you're not big time, (I mean premier big time), in boxing unless you can deliver excitement within America whilst subjecting yourself to the constructive and destructive critique of the USA boxing fraternity. For some pugilists the reward of doing this is simply not in proportion with the risk. For others the whole fight game is all about risk, so a little more wont hurt. Some guys even like the odds and they actually choose to fight because they have nothing to lose.

Those originating from another country that travel, and do overtake the majority of justified and unjustified critique; if accepted, the rewards can be breathtaking. In fact making it big in America can be so stupendous that sometimes absolutely nothing else compares. There's a reason almost every commercial structure in the world seeks to achieve acceptance within the American market; as nowhere else is there a risk reward quotient possessing such frighteningly different values. And boxing is a commercial business. In fact it’s almost all about money.

Therefore taking “your show” to America can have real commercial ramifications and real industrial analogies. It’s the commercial equivalent of attempting space travel due to your growing confidence from experience gained with conventional transport and trucking logistics. As if the fight game isn’t hard enough both inside and outside the ring without relocating and surrounding yourself with people and influences you don’t know. Aside from the complications, remaining positive, when attempting such stellar journeys, if the ignition sequence and launch are flawlessly executed the rewards can be outside of conventional unassisted imagination and a star can be created within the toughest game of them all.

It is this sensational possibility that provides the motivational inertia for truly elite fighters to remain focussed beyond what is normally attainable regardless of their location and competition. Equally, the chance to observe a star’s genesis born from a violent detonation that overwhelms all within its vicinity, ensures boxing remains as an iniquitously enduring cult sport for so many nations to associate with.

The catch, and there's always a catch, never believe prize fighting is different.

The catch to reliably fighting premier big time so that “your show” constantly creates serious recurring revenues is that you must reliably deliver on excitement. And in professional boxing where money is God, simply winning is sometimes far from enough to excite the boxing Gods. More is required. You must be spectacular, exciting and observably dangerous for the opposing participant. The increments at which your danger-excitement is measured are usually called punches, and the energy that each increment possesses is called power - this is, after all, also a physiological science. Breaking down the physics further, deep into the power-nucleus, lies a foundation of speed and technique, which itself rests upon stamina, knowledge and experience. An abundance of these qualities generally equates to impressive power exchanges and barely escapable danger.

And, of course lots of danger and excitement equates to lots of money. The business and science of boxing.  

Jack Mosley must have known that under no circumstances when watching Paul Briggs fight were you left feeling short on thrills, danger and excitement. Briggs was never diminutive in his power or his punch output, as his will to succeed was registered way too high for that. Reeling through Brigg’s previous fights on video and observing Briggs shock and excite his audience confirmed to Mosley that his performances were spectacular. Furthermore Briggs seemed very unlikely to be experience any future circumstances that inhibited his career development arising from a lack of previous quality competition, as Briggs appreciated challenges and had regularly pitted himself against credible opponents.

Apparent to Mosley early on was that Briggs is a no fear boxer with a pedigree in KO’s, and now a wider audience was required to launch from.

In this sense Mosley, Briggs and America, seemed as natural as Glove, hand and mouthguard.

Not only was the relocation to California a departure from Brigg’s Australian life, it was also a exodus from his long time trainer Rod Waterhouse, who on various occasions had indicated a preference to bringing fights to Australia for Briggs, as opposed to the career influencing ownership rights US promoters can sometimes apply. Rod Waterhouse was responsible for all credit that a trainer can possess for successfully training and guiding Paul Briggs through his 20 or so initial professional fights. And in that sense Rod Waterhouse was an unsung hero that, (in no way attributed to Briggs), was unfortunately not synonymously connected with Brigg’s success often enough after Briggs moved on. During Briggs’ association with Jack Mosley in California the final stages of the ascension plan to lift world title honours were drawn up. That plan’s origins surely must have dated back to when Waterhouse and Briggs were a team in Queensland.

Those same plans were now receiving attention in California and they marked out target, time and location, and they all dovetailed straight down the line to land on the doorstep of a world title eliminator bout; Target opponent was Stripe Drews, Time, August 2004 and the Location was none other location than Homebush Bay, NSW Australia. Drews was from Croatia and he had previously occupied championship residency at the European Boxing Union’s light heavyweight house. He had mostly campaigned in Germany where he was unbeaten in 26 fights, 12 of which had been won by the short route. Drews had successfully defended the EBU championship on 4 occasions during the 10 months preceding his encounter with Briggs, and it was this experience that prepared him to clash with Paul Briggs in Australia.

As a result of Briggs V Drews taking place within Australia, the Australian boxing fraternity was certainly appreciative. The irony that Paul’s first fight, (since being USA based), was landing in New South Wales, Australia, was also more than likely appreciated by Rod Waterhouse, Brigg’s former trainer. Such is boxing.

Some guys like to stick and move, and they celebrate making you miss by slamming you with fast-tempo explosive combinations. Other fighters like to stay right in front of you, right on you, allowing you to assume you're ruling and dictating. As a result you can unnecessarily consume energy loading up, pulling triggers and lighting fuses. In turn they show you that no matter what you’ve got there's an answer and you may not like it. The out of favour answer is usually a steady traffic of well-placed counter shots routed under, over, around and also straight through down the line of the incoming offence. This technique can be described as opportunistic power hitting. Aside from the administration of raw power, in its most effective form, countering and power hitting in this way can break a man’s assurance and belief in himself, because it occurs when he least expects it – as he assembles an effective offence.

When countering and power hitting is utilised in this way, particularly in a manner that gradually increases intensity whilst also providing economy of motion, the result is usually a puncher-boxer with strong capabilities in counter punching and power hitting. Integrated with a fight plan that proactively leads and creates openings, the technique can have devastating consequences for the inexperienced as it simply disables opponent’s wills and they find themselves in with an opponent that is most comfortable whilst they are doing their best at being most dangerous. At its greatest extent this well known fight game modus operandi may even rattle an opponent psychologically and expose his punches as diminutive shortened relics of the original inspiration - betraying the presence of newly formed and edited ambition.

When a fighter’s body ceases to freely track instructions issued from the mind’s centre in this way, the rigor-mortis-signature of fear and embarrassment has most likely found residence within the competitive sporting mind. As the illustration that confidence has transformed into doubt escalates with increasing speed and conviction, the concealment of pain, frustration and difficulty (all boxing requisites) present complexity for which there is seldom an available solution. When that happens a fighter’s will is effectively disabled.

One of the most elegant aspects of the technique is its scalability and modularity, for it can assimilate and exist within several boxing styles, either traditional Mexican, hard core European, American technicians, even Blaxican-old school. Julio Ceaser Chavez (see Greg Haugen fight 1993) and Kostya Tszyu (see Bergman, Gonzales & Judah fights) in their primes were perfect examples of that variety of western martial artistry. James Toney is also a proponent of the technique (albeit these days with more emphasis on the economy of motion and punch variety).

Paul Briggs also disables opponent’s wills in a similar fashion, and Stripe Drews was about to learn why. August 2004, Homebush Bay, NSW and across the corner from Briggs and Mosley now was Stripe Dews. Drews was a southpaw, and as matters can be when orthodox fighters fight southpaws, things got messy, but not just because Drews was a tall and lead with the right hand. During the Briggs fight Drews tried everything that was and wasn’t compatible with a fighter’s agreed conduct according to the WBC guidelines.

At times Drews resorted to using his forehead to strike Brigg’s head, and at other points within the world title eliminator contest Drews clearly kneed Briggs.

Briggs could have made it easier on himself by adopting a strategy that placed less emphasis on ruthless warfare, one that also limited Drew’s options, particularly those that successfully tempted him to stray outside of the traditional boxing convention’s guidelines. But thankfully Briggs chose not to. It must have been clear to Briggs that Drews was concerned and that his will had already weakened. What other reasoning could there be for Drews to employ the tactics that he had so enthusiastically and infamously brought into play? Briggs to his credit, resisted to do the same, instead he opted to grind it out but by the rules, as they provided all the freedom required to implement the winning strategy.

Through the delivery of an awesome mix of counter punching and power hitting whilst deep within the trenches, Briggs intent on getting his way imposed his will to win and in doing so he publicly demonstrated that his own breaking point arrived later than Drews. What also became apparent as the bout unfolded was that Briggs also set himself to control when Drew’s final breaking point came into existence. And it appeared Briggs was up to the task, as he deliberately made the fight unnecessarily tougher for himself on the count that meant it was significantly more difficult for Drews to survive.

If you were a HBO executive broadcasting that fight, Briggs pulled out precisely the game plan you would have hoped for your PPV audience, as the end result of Briggs decision to remain close at war was increased action and pure excitement.

The option to box was always available for Briggs, and there's no doubt Briggs can play that game masterfully, however on this instance after Drews had revealed his “alternative plans”, Briggs relished the chance to stay local in the trenches, drop bombs, chop and bang hard at the German champion until the cracks appeared and until he was deprived of the freedom to follow preparation.

The plan to stay at war worked beautifully not just for Briggs. It was extremely well received by the spectators who were brought up to their feet as Briggs systematically terrorized Stripe Drews and publicly punished him for his sporting misdemeanours. As Briggs stepped up into high gear and pulled the trigger on serious firepower critical changes in Drews took place. Instructions weren’t properly pursued and problems were introduced for which there was little time and energy to resolve.

The crisis wasn’t about to subside; Drew’s went down and abruptly tasted the canvass in the sixth round, courtesy of Briggs’ orthodox left hook. From that point Drew became more frustrated and Briggs continued to push forward, counter punch and power hit - aggressively looking for the breaking point in Stripe Drews.

Confidence transformed itself into doubt within Drews and it became obvious that he grew marginally embarrassed that his alternative plans to headbutt and kick had only served to motivate Briggs further. And now as a result Briggs had partially disabled Drew’s will for his prohibited efforts.

En route to the 12th round Drews revisited the floor again courtesy of Briggs firepower. Twice. Now there was no answer to the pressure Brigg’s strategy freely donated to the cause, and in what was surely one of the dirtiest fights witnessed in Australia recently, Briggs prevailed and presented Stripe Drews with the first defeat that his professional career had witnessed. Briggs shut out and defeated Stripe Drews via a wide margined unanimous decision, and with this consummate performance Paul Briggs delivered an awakening call to the homeland Australian boxing fraternity and also that afar - such was the skill, strength, commitment and depth of morale fibre on display. There was no home cooking with this fights outcome

Briggs had only worked with Mosley for approximately 5 months prior to the Drews fight and now that Briggs had eclipsed Drews he had earned the right to fight Tomasz Adamek for the vacant WBC light heavyweight world title. The title had been vacated by Antonio Tarver.

Tomasz Adamek

Last year, May 2005, Chicago, USA, Paul Briggs fought Polish warrior Thomasz Adamek in a ferocious and brutal battle for the WBC light heavyweight world title. It was one of 2005’s most competitive and vicious brawls. Don King claimed the bout was, “fight of the century”.

Early in that contest Briggs sustained a cut from an Adamek headbutt and it continued to bleed into latter rounds. Briggs has since stated the bleeding may have unfairly altered the scoring of close rounds against him. Adamek quickly capitalised on the injury and banked the first few rounds as a result of Briggs being forced to manage injury and strategy. A quarter of the way into the fight, Briggs sensed he had thrown himself into to an all out puncher’s war and began unloading, with sleeping pills in each hand. Briggs and Adamek then both started to exchange shots together with serious intentions, with Briggs deriving the better product from the released energy.

Adamek has since claimed his nose was broken prior to the first Briggs fight therefore inhibiting his breathing and performance, as Briggs renewed the injury early as the action heated. Briggs had Adamek dazed as the closing rounds rang out and his work began to visibly take effect on Adamek’s stamina. Adamek refused to go to sleep and in turn used his experience and strength to navigate away from danger to avoid being KO’d by Briggs. At several junctures within the latter rounds of the fight, just when proceedings seemed as if Adamek was going to go down, he bravely fought back and retaliated within the fight to inform Briggs that he wasn’t about losing. In the end the fight was won by a thin majority decision in Adamek’s favour, with one judge scoring the bout a draw.

The decision was controversial and complimented by a series of opposing post fight press releases, whose opinions depended on their geographic origin. Briggs had lost on the scorecards but if you were an advocate that a fighter’s stock in trade is inflicting damage then the fight book read quite differently and you may have had Briggs clearly the winner. It was reported that Adamek walked from that contest with a broken nose, a broken cheekbone and a broken eye socket.

Unless cruelty had become a need, that level of aggression seemed unnecessary. Unless, of course, you had previously been initiated to Brigg’s stock in trade. In that case you would have been present when Briggs fought Jesus Ruiz, …..or Stripe Drews…or… Tosca Pedridis, as in all those contests it would not be unreasonable to claim that an amount of destruction had taken place that was in excess of that normally witnessed at a boxing match.

The result of that first torrid engagement with Adamek had positioned Briggs as the number one contender to Adamek’s title and by most accounts it appeared as if Adamek genuinely annoyed Briggs after the fight by consistently refusing to set a date for the rematch. No matter what Briggs did, after the first fight it appeared as if Adamek would never get in the ring with Briggs.

Respite has been in the air lately as recently Briggs received positive indication from the WBC president Jose Sulaiman that Adamek would be stripped of his belt should he did not set a date to fight Briggs. When WBC president Jose Sulaiman announced the WBC’s intentions, to take effect should Adamek continue to decide against fighting Briggs a second time, Jose also commented directly on Adameks refusal to grant a rematch with Briggs….

"The World Boxing Council has always been very proud of world champion Thomasz Adamek, we consider him one of the most powerful champions nowadays; he was also elected 2005 boxer of the year, and for such reason we are puzzled about his strange and unexpected behaviour."

Hence the rematch this weekend.

And the high drama….

Adamek in response to delays related to the rematch, quotes his longstanding legal problems as being responsible for the rematch delay, some of which had involved suing Don King. Lets face it, there's got to be better ways to fast track your boxing career than suing King, so that explains why the rematch may have taken longer than expected to organise. It doesn’t explain why Briggs had not received communication about a rematch for such a long time though.

And now that the fight is happening Adamek has promised that with his new trainer Buddy McGirt a greater level of speed and applied combinations will surprise and confuse Briggs, and therefore confirm that he is the rightful champion. To further support this point of view Adamek claims his current sparring partner (that also assisted Briggs prepare for the first Adamek fight) insists Adamek is faster and superior to Briggs. Now that’s just not a nice thing to say is it?

The games continue; Adamek through the media has also managed to devalue Brigg’s recently announced style changes that Briggs himself attributes to his new trainer Johnny Lewis. Elaborating, Adamek disregarded Brigg’s recent style change by indicating that Brigg’s last performance with Clavero didn’t signify that he should have departed from his puncher-boxer style to that which Adamek claims was less impressive against Clavero.

It should be noted that Briggs won his recent fight against Clavero in 5 rounds, as Clavero quit on his stool and was disqualified. If that’s unimpressive, what does that say about Kostya Tszyu V Chavez?

Briggs in turn has disregarded Adamek’s recent performance against Thomas Ulrich, claiming, “Ulrich was connecting with some good punches before he was stopped. I think Ulrich beat himself in that fight. I still think that Adamek is very open and easy to hit”. Briggs has also claimed that there's not much about Adamek that worries him and that Adamek is easy to hit

Ahh don’t you get the feeling that this is really heating up just nicely. There's will be no love loss in Chicago this weekend.

Mind games: Adamek is reported to have claimed Briggs has recently experienced unresolved issues with his trainer Lewis over rumours regarding the advent of Colonna into the Briggs camp. Briggs was also reported to have trained at Colonna’s Windy City gym last week. For those that don’t know; Colonna is the trainer that prepared Adamek for the first Briggs fight, and if Briggs has utilised his expertise leading into this fight that’s got to get under Adamek’s skin.

And yes it has been rumoured that the split between Colonna and Adamek was acrimonious.

Onto trainers comments; Buddy McGirt has reportedly announced that he believes there are weaknesses in Briggs that Adamek can now exploit better. McGirt pointed to Adamek’s own style changes and described their application into Briggs fault lines. McGirt himself has not been blessed with luck lately though, with losses spread across his stable with, Tarver, Gatti and Brewster. McGirt has an excellent pedigree as both a boxer and a trainer.

Brigg’s Australian trainer, Johnny Lewis also has significant experience to lend to the fight, as Lewis has guided Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding, Virgil Hill, Gairy St Clair and Kostya Tszyu, all to world titles. Lewis has indicated that Briggs had Adamek seriously hurt in their first fight and that he believes it is unusual that Adamek has agreed to fight Briggs again. Lewis came out of retirement to train Briggs and has worked with Briggs for approximately 14 months.

Adamek has not fought for almost a year now and Brigg’s last fight was August this year. Adamek is currently 29 years old whilst Briggs is 31. Tomaz Adamek went into the first fight with Briggs with twenty wins the short route from a total of twenty-eight bouts, no losses. Briggs went into the first Adamek fight with twenty four fights, one loss, and sixteen wins via the short route. Serving as an insight to Briggs character and confidence, Briggs was noted to think that Adamek’s record was a bit padded prior to the first fight.

As the challenger, Paul “Firepower” Briggs can perhaps afford his spell of audacity, or even a brief moment of effrontery going into this rematch fight. Brigg’s brazened poise must surely have its foundation rooted deeply with knowledge that he committed himself to inflicting damage to such an extent during the first confrontation that Adamek later became incompatible with those championship obligations associated with communicating rematch dates to leading contenders. It’s clear that Briggs doubts the authenticity of Adamek’s first win against him. For Briggs it is not yet absolute. This weekend the conclusion will be defined

Tomasz Adamek trains secure in belief that a Briggs unable to defeat him when he is already hurt from preparation and unable to properly respire, will fare no better against an Adamek without such distractions. Particularly a Paul Briggs that (Adamek feels) was unimpressive in his last outing. That disregard may be no more than ignorant paranoia. However, Adamek the current WBC light heavyweight champion seeks to stamp authenticity on his first performance and comprehensively validate it with this weekend’s performance. The Polish warrior knows the stakes, remembers the pain and is prepared to relive the excoriation and punishment that earmarked their first scorching confrontation in order to rid himself of Briggs, and any doubt regarding the legitimacy of his win.

The last time they met Briggs and Adamek gave each other a fight they’ll never forget. This time, Adamek has promised a better jab, more power and fast combinations - a new bag of tricks that is sure to bring victory.

Anything less will be a serious deficit against the Briggs that will walk into the ring in search exposing his technical failures. The trick for Briggs will be forcing Adamek’s will to fade a second time, making him vulnerable and then ensuring that opportunity is correctly exploited to its maximum potential, before what will undoubtedly be a full house of livid screaming Polish fans. And that’s not impossible to envisage because it requires Briggs finding a dimension within his professionalism that he’s previously demonstrated exists.

Should Briggs succeed in Chicago, of all his accomplishments, this will be his most resonant and it will probably reverberate within our minds and remain with us for the longest.

Armed with a new moniker, Paul “Firepower” Briggs and Thomasz Adamek collide this Saturday, October 7th at the Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois, USA, for the WBC light heavyweight world title in their heavily anticipated rematch. The fight will be televised in Australia on Foxtel Main Event. Reporting commences at 11am October 8th (EST Australia).

Paul Briggs quote: Last bout I said everything I needed to say and this time around it’s just about doing it.

(The 5th part of this series will cover Brigg’s second fight with Adamek in 2006. Briggs V1 Adamek was one of the best fights in 2005, don’t miss the rematch this weekend).