"I'm the heavyweight champion of the world and the treatment I've received is ridiculous...I'm going to decapitate this little kid...he's a bum," Briggs said in an interview posted Monday on the boxing Web site FightNews.com.
The bout was initially scheduled for March 10, but was later rescheduled for June 2 as Briggs pulled out citing health reasons, particularly an attack of pneumonia. Ibragimov's managers spread rumors at the time that Briggs was probably healthy and was simply afraid of facing the Russian boxer.
"The whole thing is that these guys put out bogus rumors about I'm a coward, I pulled out of this fight because I was scared to fight this kid," Briggs said. "This kid's has 20 fights, I had 54 fights, I had 29 first round knockouts."
Ibragimov decided against getting drawn into a battle of words and said at a press conference Monday that he is a fighter and will answer Briggs in the ring during Saturday's bout, which will be held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
