Lennox Lewis knocked out in the first round. Lewis retained the WBC world title in 1998 when he knocked out lineal champion Shannon Briggs, who had recently outpointed George Foreman in a controversial fight to win the lineal title in five rounds, and beat formerly-undefeated European champion Željko Mavrović from Croatia in a 12-round unanimous decision. Lewis stated in 2006 that his fight with Mavrovic was the most awkward win of his career. On 13 March 1999, Lewis faced WBA and IBF title holder Evander Holyfield in New York City in what was supposed to be a heavyweight unification bout. Lewis fought
Shannon Briggs six bouts in 2014 and a further two in 2015. He won all eight, seven by knockout, earning the NABA Heavyweight title in the process. Briggs fought in Panama against Zoltan Petranyi, knocking him out in round 1. Following the fight, former cruiserweight world champion Guillermo Jones came into the ring to confront Briggs, demanding he fight him next. At this time, Briggs was chasing a fight with then unified and lineal world champion Wladimir Klitschko and told Jones, he would fight him after he fought Klitschko. Neither fight took place in the future. Briggs gained some notoriety over a