[Boxing]

By Mark Vester

Russian media outlet Kommersant reports that undefeated heavyweight boxer Sultan Ibragimov will fight Mexican puncher Javier Mora on March 10 at the theater in Madison Square Garden. The fight is scheduled for ten-rounds.

Originally Ibragimov was set to fight WBO heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs in an HBO televised scrap, but the bout was cancelled last week when Briggs pulled out due to pneumonia.

Ibragimov’s team was aiming for more well known heavyweights like Calvin Brock, Ray Mercer, Dominick Guinn and Lou Savarese, but were unable to land any of those opponents because the March 10 date was right around the corner and none of the fighters had enough to to properly prepare for the fight.​

 

[Slon]

"I was going to make like $1.8 million for the fight, including about $500,000 in endorsements. I was going to look like a NASCAR driver with my trunks," he said. "So it hurts me to lose it. I'm 35 and I fought sick my whole career with my asthma. I know you don't want to hear it, but Muhammad Ali didn't fight with asthma, Mike Tyson didn't fight with asthma. I have fought with asthma my whole career and was able to win a championship. But this pneumonia is worse and my health is more important than my wealth."

He said he had been feeling weak in the gym for the past 2½ weeks.

"I had a lot of shortness of breath in everything I was doing -- running, sparring, whatever," Briggs said. "I thought it was my asthma, so I upped my dose of medication. But it wasn't getting better, so I went to the doctor and he diagnosed me. He gave me a lung test and said my lung power had decreased by 11 percent since my last fight."

Briggs (48-4-1, 42 KOs), of Brooklyn, won his belt via dramatic 12th-round knockout of Sergei Liakhovich on Nov. 4 in Phoenix and was looking forward to defending his title in New York, his hometown.

"We contemplated fighting. I wanted to fight," said Briggs, who said he was instructed not to train for at least three weeks. "To me this fight was a joke. How did he even become my mandatory? Off a draw with Ray Austin? OK, but it was an easy payday. But we came to the realization that it wasn't the smartest thing to do. Me losing to Ibragimov because of illness, people don't want to hear about that."

ESPN.com - BOXING - Pneumonia sidelines Briggs for March 10 title defense

Can he be anymore full of himself?