Be careful... you don't know if he has major neurological issues or not. I really don't think he took a dive, it's just not the aussie way.
SO SEVERE were Paul Briggs's neurological problems in the weeks leading up to his fight against Danny Green that he was forgetting at which gymnasium he was training and mistaking strangers' cars for his own. His conditioning was so poor that he took one body shot in sparring and vomited.
Briggs's woeful 29-second performance on Wednesday night was not of a man taking a dive, but one who was so desperate for his $200,000 purse he was willing to risk his life in the ring. Briggs, his people, and much of boxing's circle knew the reality of the situation. This was going to be a farce.
He completely lost his bearings after Green landed a probing left jab to the top of his skull – a punch that would not have moved a half-fit boxer – and Briggs said later he was trying to get up, but his body could not respond.
In the dressing room after the fight, Briggs had a conversation with a close friend and later asked those around him who he had just been speaking to, such was his delirium.
This is why Briggs should never have returned to the ring, why the Western Australian Professional Combat Sports Commission should never have sanctioned it when their NSW counterparts refused to, and why the International Boxing Organisation should have rejected any notion of Briggs fighting for one of their titles. A source close to Briggs said yesterday he was "battling".