ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – The power in the heavyweight division is in Europe, with few if any Americans even in the running for title shots.

After Sultan Ibragimov routed Brooklyn’s Shannon Briggs on Saturday night to win the WBO version of the heavyweight four-ring circus, all the belts belong to natives of former Soviet republics. Ibragimov would like to try to unify some of those titles, and his best bet would be to do so back home in Russia, or somewhere else in Europe.

“I am heavyweight champion,” he said after consistently beating Briggs to the punch at Boardwalk Hall. “But there are other (championships), too.”

Ibragimov, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist, is 19-0-1. He has quickness and a terrific left-hand lead punch. Well, he did against Briggs, at least, as the 35-year-old American nicknamed “The Cannon” barely put up any opposition.

“I have been preparing for six months for this fight,” said the 32-year-old Ibragimov, who was supposed to meet Briggs on March 10. That bout was postponed because Briggs, who also suffers from asthma, had pneumonia. “We didn’t get to fight the first time in March and I finally got the shot.”

And the title.

If he wants to fight in the United States next, the best scenario for Ibragimov is to meet Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine, the IBF champ and generally considered the best of the heavyweight titleholders. Only Klitschko of the other champions has much of a following in the States.

But if they were to meet in Germany, where Klitschko is very popular, or in perhaps Moscow, the fight might attract a nice crowd, if not a lot of pay-per-view TV offers.

Kazakstan’s Oleg Maskaev (WBC) and Ruslan Chageav of Uzbekistan (WBA) are the other heavyweight champions.

As for the Americans, Ray Austin, Lamon Brewster, Chris Byrd, Hasim Rahman and Calvin Brock aren’t exactly a formidable collection. Brewster, Byrd and Rahman are former champions; Brock won an eight-round decision on the undercard Saturday night, but he already has been stopped by Klitschko.

But any of those Americans would figure to put up a better fight for a title belt than did Briggs, weighing 273 pounds, against Ibragimov (221).

While Briggs deserves credit for getting into the ring for years while struggling to control his asthma, he can’t just show up and expect to win. On Saturday, he pawed and postured, rarely throwing anything dangerous. His performance made his win over Sergei Liakhovich last Nov. 4 for the crown look like a fluke – Briggs scored a last-minute knockout when he was well behind.

Briggs said he was forced to fight Saturday night and he was not completely healthy.

“They threatened me,” he said, not identifying who did the threatening. “I really didn’t want to fight and they threatened if I pulled out they would sue me and they would have stripped me.”

Briggs earned $1.8 million in what could be his last big payday. For Ibragimov, who got $600,000, much bigger purses are ahead – even if they come overseas.