By James Slater – We all saw the utter dominance with which Wladimir Klitschko despatched his latest challenger, in Samuel Peter this past Saturday night, and we have really gotten used to the sight of Wladimir and his brother Vitali beating up and disposing of their opposition. Neither brother has lost a fight in years; come to think of it, neither brother has even lost a round in years!
The next guy to get his shot at seeing if he can become the fighter to put a halt to the ridiculous ease with which the two “Doctors” are dominating the heavyweight division is former champ Shannon Briggs, who goes in with WBC ruler Vitali on October 16th. At least the 39-year-old Klitschko will be fighting someone close to his own size in this one.. The question is, can “The Cannon,” all 6’4” and approx 260-pounds of him, do what Sam Peter, Eddie Chambers, Chris Arreola, Kevin Johnson (the lost goes on and on) failed to do and at least give a Kitsch a scare; even come home from Germany with a massive victory?
Briggs, who has stopped three guys each inside a round this year, is, like so many previous Klitschko opponents, talking a great fight – even saying he may stop “Dr Iron Fist” in the opening round. Hardly anyone expects that to happen, but Briggs is in with a puncher’s chance if nothing else, and let’s face it, he can’t do any worse than the brave but slow-footed Peter did in his last two attempts at halting the Klitschko’s reign. Can he?
Peter, along with many other Klitschko challengers, was simply unable to get close enough to inflict any real damage on Wladmir or Vitali, and that is at least half the battle right there. Briggs, however, with his 80” reach, could be capable of getting close to Vitali’s chin and cracking it with a bomb of a right hand. In the early rounds at least, until Brigg’s seemingly inevitable feeling of the pace (Briggs’ stamina doesn’t figure to have improved any, and he does suffer with asthma, after all), the action promises to be lively. Even Peter had a decent opening round on Saturday in Frankfurt, Briggs, so much bigger and stronger, SHOULD be able to keep the heat on Vitali longer than Sam kept it on Wladimir.
But when Vitali is still standing after, say, three or four rounds, what then? The slow but sure Klitschko beat down we have grown so accustomed to? It seems so. For those who want to see a division “shake up,” Briggs will not be the answer. At least not in my opinion. What we also won’t see on October 16th, though, is a painfully dull fight. Briggs, although he won’t win next month, will come out throwing bombs, and for however long he can keep it up, the fans will get excitement.
At this stage of the heavyweight division, that’s probably as much as we can ask for.