Picks on Vitali Klitschko vs. Shannon Briggs.

Briggs packs a punch and hes willing to have a go. After the boredom of the last 5 years or so of crappy heavyweight contests he surely cannot do any worse than any of the rest. Maybes he might suprise us and land that big punch. Anyway until Haye, Adamek, Povotkin etc decide to step up then someone like Shannons probably the best shot at ending the Klitcshko stronghold. Still if i was abetting man id prob go for Vitali with a UD or late TKO.

 

Shannon Briggs really doesn't deserve a shot at a "world title" much more than Audley Harrison does, but I might actually buy this one.

Two old over-the-hill guys who are big and strong could be entertaining, even if in a WWE wrestling sort of way.
Frankenstein v. Frankenstein.
Godzilla v. Godzilla

Winner to fight Holyfield ? For the old veteran steroid user title ! I'm not kidding. And he's probably more deserving than Briggs.
Or what are the chances of a Briggs-Harrison unification 2011 ??
A couple of big punches out of the fog is all it takes.

I'm a bit concerned about Briggs' coming into this fight with no form but 1-round set-ups under his belt.
It's a joke really. He'll probably be gassed half way through the 2nd.

I think Vitali will win, and probably retire.

 

Valuev is actually a worse opponent than Briggs so I'm not sure why people were calling for him to be given a shot at Vitali.
In truth most here believe Holyfield beat Valuev, but most here would also object more strongly to Holyfield being chosen as an opponent. Go figure. Valuev has beaten no one lately, his last "win" that I'm aware of was the dodgy one against Holyfield.

You're right, the heavyweight ranks are than thin. It's sad we're even discussing the likes of Briggs, Valuev, Holyfield, nevermind Harrison or Chisora !

Younger guys like Chambers, Adamek, Povetkin, are disappointments. Peter too.
I have to wonder whether Haye really wants to test himself ever (I really suspect he might retire soon too) and whether Solis will ever amount to much more than a fighter who ate himself out of contention.

It's getting to the point where I'd be prepared to see Pacquiao move up to heavyweight (drug-free obviously), and I'd give him 50-50 chance of grabbing a major belt.

 

For the record, Briggs is 262.

 

Chagaev adds nothing to the picture either...he proved to be totally inept and inferior to Wlad...hell Iggy at least went the distance in the awful slap-a-thon he had with Wlad.

 

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RAWR!

Briggs is about a stone too heavy, but he's pretty ripped here.

 

I'm quite disappointed with Povetkin as well. He virtually won every amateur tournament at any level for four years straight, and I remember I followed every one of his pro fights, barely dropping a round even when facing pretty good boxers in old Byrd & Donald, and beating Chambers..... then his fight with Wlad was cancelled in 2007 and he's looked lethargic and disinterested every since... such a waste. :-( He looked pretty good in his last fight though, so maybe he can back on track..

As for Chambers, I'm not writing him off yet. Wlad is just all wrong for him; I hope he can recover from that brutal one punch knockout.

Solis is another sad story... so much potential - watch him beat Haye in the amateurs in a great fight - but he's completely out of shape.

Briggs is in good bodybuilding shape, but in boxing terms he's out of shape. Way too much muscle, no endurance. And unfortunately he knows how to pace himself, so instead of seeing a do-or-die 4 round fight, you'll see a 15-punch-a-round fight from him.

 

Agree on Chambers. He can come again. I reckon it's 60% that he took that defeat hard and will have lost some of his desire, it's a shame but I feel he might be still feel dejected, esp. with people whispering in his ear that he's really just a cruiserweight. There's 40% chance he'll actually come back better though. I think him against Haye would be an intriguing match.

 

262 pounds is not a good weight for a 6'4 athlete ever.

He looks like he's competing in a strong man contest, not a boxing match. No need for the bulk.

 

After an exciting first three rounds , Vitali by TKO in seven.

 

Briggs comes in way too heavy .. likely will run out of gas like Tyson did v.s. Lewis ...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgdXw7Bm9ok[/ame]

 

It wouldn't matter if he was 230 pounds, he doesn't have a chance to win. He wasn't a top fighter 13 years ago, who seriously believes he will be a top fighter now?

 

No but he had a chance of lightning striking against a 39 year old champion because of his speed, size and power ... with such weight his speed and stamina are minimized ... Remember Sanders did land hard against Vitali in the first round years ago and this is a much older Vitali ... to me Briggs is in it for the payday ...

 

Judging from Vitali's performance against Sosnowski, it's likely Briggs will at least believe he has a reasonable chance of landing a few clean shots. And for a man of his power that's got to be a huge confidence boost.

Briggs is the inferior fighter on paper, a less proven boxer overall, and further removed from whatever "prime" he had. But it's still two big lumbering OLD MEN in the ring. Anything could happen.