BRIGGS HAS MUCH TO FIGHT FOR.

Byline: ROBERT MORALES BOXING

Following a solid amateur career that included a silver medal in the 1991 Pan Am Games and an unsuccessful trip to the 1992 Olympic Trials, Shannon Briggs began his professional career 25-0 with 20 knockouts -- 17 of them in the first round.

At that point, Briggs was almost expected to be the next great heavyweight champion. Then he was stopped in the third round by Darroll Wilson in Atlantic City in March 1996. But the derailment appeared temporary when, after four consecutive knockouts, Briggs squared off with George Foreman and won a majority decision in a non-title fight in November 1997 in Atlantic City.

Deemed ready for his first shot at a major title, Briggs hurt World Boxing Council champion Lennox Lewis early, but was himself stopped in the fifth round after beind decked three times.

That was more than eight years ago, in March 1998, but Briggs has fought his way back and, on Nov. 4, he will challenge Sergei Liakhovich for his World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship at Chase Field in Phoenix. Showtime will televise the fight.

Briggs, with a bubbly personality that sometimes gets under the skin of his opponent, is about as excited as one can be about a second shot at fame.

``This is it, I could be the man,'' said Briggs, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y. ``I am appreciative, I am happy. I just thank God and everybody who played a piece in this puzzle. I was fighting everywhere, anywhere for free.

``So now I am fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world. This is a great opportunity for me and it is a great opportunity for boxing. Shannon Briggs as heavyweight champion of the world is a beautiful thing. It can definitely bring a lot of people back to the sport. I am ugly, but I am funny. That is my motto."

Briggs, however, doesn't think there is anything funny about the lack of good, big fighters coming out of the U.S. these days. All four of the world heavyweight champions are from the Soviet Bloc, including Liakhovich, who is from Belarus.

``I think a lot of kids in America -- the black kids -- they are playing other sports -- basketball, football, and other things, rapping, hip-hop,'' said Briggs, who is African American. ``So to them, why make money getting hit when (they think instead) `I can go out there and make it in other ways?'

``You do not have those big lucrative contract guarantees in boxing. You have all these unscrupulous managers and promoters, so people are not dying to become a professional boxer.''

Another theory recently thrown around is that today's American athlete isn't willing to work that hard. And boxing is the hardest sport there is.

``It is just a real tough business,'' Briggs said. ``It is just a real tough game physically and mentally. So you do not have a bunch of guys jumping out the window to say, `You know what? I am going to be a professional boxer.'

``Also, the amateur program here, it is not as crazy as how it was years ago, and again, (not as) lucrative and attractive for kids to be in it. Then you look at the Soviet Union, when it was, I guess, the Soviet Union, they have always had a strong amateur program and stuck behind it.''

It should be noted that television mogul Michael King, who produces such shows as ``Jeopardy,'' ``Wheel of Fortune'' and ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' under the King World Productions banner, is CEO of A2P (Amateur to Pro) and he has vowed to bring amateur boxing in this country back to its glory days of the 1980s.

Briggs believes he is the man in the pro ranks who can change this recent trend.

It won't be easy. Liakovich showed he is a good fighter when he won the title from Lamon Brewster via unanimous decision last April in Cleveland.

Briggs is 47-4-1 with 41 knockouts. Liakhovich, 20, is 23-1 with 14 knockouts.

De La Hoya adds Corrales to stable

Diego ``Chico'' Corrales, who earlier this month embarrassed himself by coming in 4 1/2 pounds overweight for what was supposed to be a defense of his lightweight title against Joel Casamayor, has signed a promotional contract with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy, told the Daily News on Friday that there was a signing bonus, and that Corrales on Thursday signed a multi-fight contract that would span several years.

Corrales, who had been promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, lost his World Boxing Council belt on the scales when he didn't make weight the day before his fight with Casamayor on Oct. 7. The fight went on as scheduled and Casamayor won the belt with a split decision -- had Corrales won, the title would have remained vacant.

Shaw, however, had the $500,000 site fee he had earned for bringing the fight to Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas taken away because of the fiasco.

``I have no comment'' about the signing, Shaw said Friday from his offices in Totowa, N.J.

``At this point in my career, it is important that I can go into a fight knowing that the business outside is taken care of,'' Corrales said in a statement. ``I wanted to be with a promoter who understands us fighters and who I can be with for the rest of my career."

The signing of Corrales is another in a long line of recent acquisitions by De La Hoya and Schaefer, who recently inked super featherweight star Manny Pacquiao to a multi-fight contract.

That transaction is being challenged by rival promoter Bob Arum, however.

``I know that Diego always gives his best in the ring and our promise to him is that Golden Boy Promotions will give him our best outside the ring,'' De La Hoya said.

The comments by Corrales and De La Hoya come close to suggesting that Shaw was at fault for Corrales' weight issue two weeks ago. Schaefer toned that down a bit, saying that Corrales should not have to take all the blame.

``It wasn't good for him (Corrales), it wasn't good for the sport,'' Schaefer said. ``There is a whole group of victims here.''

Corrales has had trouble making the 135-pound lightweight limit his past few fights. When Jose Luis Castillo weighed 4 1/2 pounds over for what was supposed to be his third fight with Corrales last June -- the fight was canceled -- Corrales made the weight for that one, but not without extreme difficulty.

Schaefer said he was not concerned that he signed a fighter who recently gave the sport another black eye.

``I think it is another important signing because Diego certainly is one of the most recognized names in the sport,'' Schaefer said. ``Moving up to 140 and then 147, he has some great fights ahead of him.

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(1) Shannon Briggs hopes not to take another tumble when he fights for the World Boxing Organization heavyweight title Nov. 4 in Phoenix.

Al Bello/Associated Press

(2) CORRALES

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