Shannon Briggs announces fight with Vitali Klitschko

Shannon Briggs will take on WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on Saturday, 16 October, at a German venue, expected to be Hamburg.

“I got the contract [on Wednesday],” said former WBO champion Briggs, 38. “I look forward to retiring a great champion – I’m the best ever!

“Hopefully when I retire Vitali I can fight David Haye at Wembley Stadium, that would be a dream come true.”

Klitschko’s most recent win was over Poland’s Albert Sosnowski in May 2010.

Briggs, known as ‘The Cannon’, has a record of 54-5-1, and his 27 first-round knockouts is the most by any heavyweight champion.

The New Yorker’s most recent bout was a victory over Rob Calloway in May.

In March 1998, Briggs took on then-WBC world champion Lennox Lewis in Atlantic City but was stopped in five rounds.

Currently eighth in the WBC rankings, Briggs announced his bout against Klitschko at the launch of a WBC boxing festival in Cardiff on Thursday.

The three-day event begins on Friday with the premiere of the movie of the life of Welsh great Howard Winstone, “Risen”.

The next night sees a high-quality amateur boxing night with Team GB taking on the rest of the world.

The event culminates with the Night of Champions at the Cardiff International Arena on 31 July with over 80 former and current champions expected to attend, including Klitschko, Roberto Duran, Ken Buchanan and Joe Calzaghe.

“I got in to Cardiff on Wednesday and I’m loving it – I may not leave,” Briggs told BBC Sport Wales.

“It’s an honour to see these living legends.”

Wladimir Klitschko, younger brother of Vitali, is the reigning WBO and IBF world heavyweight champion, with the WBA belt held by Haye.

In April, Briggs claimed: “The Klitschkos hurt the division with their safety-first styles. Neither one of them puts it on the line.”

He urged Haye to bypass the Ukrainian siblings in favour of fighting him instead, adding: “We don’t have to deal with the Klitschkos, hand-picking opponents and fighting only in Germany with their boring styles.”

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