Lennox Lewis vs. Shannon Briggs Lennox Lewis vs. Shannon Briggs Lennox Lewis vs. Shannon Briggs, billed as "March Badness", was a professional boxing match contested on March 28, 1998 for the WBC and "Lineal" Heavyweight Championships. After Lennox Lewis successfully defended his WBC title in a dominating first round knockout victory over Andrew Golota, the WBC organized an elimination match between "Lineal" champion George Foreman and Shannon Briggs to determine who would become Lewis' next opponent. The match was held on November 22, 1997 and went the full 12 rounds. Though many assumed that Foreman had won the match, (both Harold Lederman and the associated
Undisputed champion recognised a different champion. The disputes were usually short-lived as a lucrative fight would be organised between the rival champions. The longest split was ten years, of the middleweight title, between Mickey Walker's move up to heavyweight in 1931 and NBA champion Tony Zale's defeat of NYSAC contender Georgie Abrams in 1941. An early use of "undisputed" appears in a "New York Times" preview of the 1941 fight. The growing popularity of boxing outside of the USA led to creation of various boxing organizations, each strengthening their influence (most notably BBBofC) and having their own champion. This resulted in a