Shannon Briggs faced some of boxing’s biggest punchers but says one heavyweight hit harder than all

Shannon Briggs counts three former world heavyweight champions among the hardest hitters he ever faced. But the heaviest punch he ever absorbed, he says, came from a man who never held one of boxing’s four major titles.

Briggs last boxed on May 21, 2016. A first-round knockout of Emilio Ezequiel Zarate in London closed out a 24-year career spanning 68 fights, four world title challenges and one championship triumph — his dramatic last-round win over Siarhei Liakhovich for the WBO title in November 2006.

Speaking on The God Pod with Lord Jamar, the American reflected on some of the biggest punchers he encountered.

“I fought five former heavyweight champions, and three of them was some of the hardest hitters in boxing history: Lennox Lewis, Vitali Klitschko and George Foreman.”

Briggs’ controversial win over Foreman was followed by a spirited effort against Lewis, whom he hurt early before the Brit took command and retained his WBC belt with a fifth-round stoppage.

Twelve years later Briggs somehow earned another title shot, this time against Vitali Klitschko, and claimed a moral victory by going the distance with the formidable Ukrainian.

But between those marquee nights came a trip to Atlantic City in August 1999, when Briggs met a South African heavyweight he now calls the hardest puncher he ever faced — Frans Botha.

“Frans Botha. He hit me harder than any man in my life. It was something about those punches from Botha. He broke my ribs, I ain’t gonna lie. In the third round he threw a jab and a right hand and broke my ribs.”

Briggs and Botha fought to a draw, but the Brooklyn heavyweight admitted that “The White Buffalo” could easily have received the nod.