Cus D'Amato regarded Briscoe much higher than most of his highly decorated opponents in many respects, particularly for his determination, intimidating posture, constant forward movement, aggressiveness, iron jaw, and ability to absorb punches no matter how solid he was hit, creating an impression of irresistible force to great many of his opponents. Briscoe's relentless walk-forward style earned him a nickname "Black Robot" while fighting abroad (for that reason, French cartoonist Dero portrayed Briscoe as a robot with hammers instead of arms,) forcing even such aggressive fighters as Hagler and Monzon to back-up consistently. He was also sometimes referred to as "the fighting trashman," because he balanced his training early in his career with a day job as a sanitation worker in South Philadelphia.