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 to Briggs $1 million. After the loss to Lennox Lewis, Briggs spent seven years fighting against low ranked opponents. He scored 17 wins, all by way of knockout, 2 losses, 1 by majority and 1 by unanimous decision and a majority draw versus Frans Botha in 1998. Notable wins were against Ray Mercer, Brian Scott, Luciano Zolyone, Dicky Ryan and Chris Koval. Briggs won the WBO heavyweight title when he knocked out Sergei Liakhovich in the last round of a November 4, 2006, matchup. After a lackluster 11 rounds which left the Arizona crowd restless, Briggs was losing on all