Shannon Briggs, 54, Says He's in Talks to Fight Tommy Fury

Shannon Briggs says he's negotiating a fight with Tommy Fury. The former WBO heavyweight champion, now 54, took to social media to announce he'd just gotten off the phone about a bout with the 27-year-old, and threw in a warning aimed at the whole Fury clan for good measure.

Briggs told Fury not to get scared, then promised he was coming for the family in order: Tommy first, father John second, brother Tyson third. It's classic Briggs bluster, and it lands the same way it always does. But the details worth pinning down are these: Briggs hasn't fought professionally since May 2016, a gap of more than a decade, and he's teased plenty of comebacks that never materialized.

Who Briggs Actually Was

The résumé is real, even if it's dusty. Briggs claimed the WBO belt in 2006 with a 12th-round TKO of Siarhei Liakhovich, though he dropped it seven months later against Sultan Ibragimov in his very next outing. Before that, he'd held lineal champion status after outpointing George Foreman by majority decision in November 1997, only to lose it to Lennox Lewis via fifth-round stoppage the following March.

So Briggs has shared a ring with Foreman and Lewis. That's a genuine slice of heavyweight history. It's also a very long time ago, and at 54, the version stepping through the ropes now would bear little resemblance to the one who beat Big George.

Where Fury Fits

Fury turned pro back in 2018 but has spent recent years chasing spectacle over sanctioned titles. He beat Jake Paul in 2023, edged KSI later that year, and shared a ring with former World's Strongest Man Eddie Hall earlier in 2026. It's a résumé built for pay-per-view buys, not ranking points.

Whether this actually happens is the open question. Briggs has floated fights before and never delivered on them, so treat the announcement as a pitch rather than a signed contract. If it does come together, it's a crossover attraction and nothing more — a former champion two years shy of pension age against a name-brand influencer act. Fun to talk about. Hard to take seriously as anything else.