Injured American boxer Shannon Briggs has come out fighting in defence of his manager for not allowing Saturday’s WBC heavyweight title bout with Vitali Klitschko to go the distance.

Briggs lost to the Ukrainian on points, but was left with concussion and fractures to his cheekbones and nose and a shoulder injury.

Briggs’s injuries led to criticism of British referee Ian John-Lewis for allowing the fight to continue, and of Briggs’s manager, Hermann Caicedo.

But Briggs, who is still recovering in a Hamburg hospital, wrote on his personal webpage yesterday: “Despite prior reports, throughout the contest my trainer, Herman Caicedo wanted to stop the fight, but I made it clear that stopping was not an option.”

Caiceido, for his part, claimed on Monday that his man had “forbidden” him to throw in the towel.

Briggs reported that doctors had concluded he had suffered “no severe head injuries”.

“I am staying in the hospital to further examine an injury to my left bicep that I suffered in the first round. Unfortunately, the injury kept me from fully executing my fight plan,” he added.

“Not to take anything away from a brilliant performance by Vitali Klitschko on Saturday night, had I had not injured my arm early on, who knows how the fight would have concluded.

“Hopefully, I showed you the heart of a lion and the perseverance of a champion.”

According to German newspaper Bild, Briggs, who weighs 119 kg, took 302 punches to the face and body, 171 of which were deemed clean punches.

Official ring doctor Stefan Bock was not asked to intervene in the match, but later admitted: “I started to be concerned for Briggs as of the sixth round.”

Klitschko inflicted the sixth defeat of the US boxer’s career on points (120-107, 120-107, 120-105).