So you're saying you'd rather see Vitali fight Ray Austin? Not me. Thompson, sure, but he just pulled out of a fight due to injury, so I don't think that's an option.
look you cannot come on here and try and defend Briggs as a defence when you slag of Harrison for Haye. Its just hypocritical. Ray Austin is his mandatory, just get it out of the way. Also since when is Haye fighting Harrison?
It's not even comparable. Briggs would KO Harrison. Haye hasn't had problems finding opponents, Wlad is ready to fight Haye, however Haye is being a ***** right now. And you really want to see Vitali fight Ray Austin??? Come on, you can't be serious! Austin was KO'd in 2 rounds by Wlad, who would have been just fine with one hand tied behind his back. What is there to see in Vitali fighting him?
There is some confusion here between #1 rated contender and mandatory. These two are NOT the same, unless the WBC says they are. A fighter can be #1 rated contender without being mandatory contender. The WBC council has to declare a fighter mandatory, this doesn't happen automatically.
A really abysmal fight. What the **** is Vitali doing? I don't understand the offers to Valuev at all and if that fight can't happen, there are guys out there who are much better than Briggs. He's old, has no stamina, can't take a punch and was never more than a puncher at his best. Dreadful.
I don't understand Vitali's activity level at all. Why is he trying to fight 4 times a year when there's no good enough opposition available to him?
If a guy is trying to build some kind of legacy, and the opposition available is ****, you have to try and make up in quantity what isn't available in quality. Why not fight what's available? Better than just sitting around all day.
Money, obviously. The downside of the Klitschko's $3 million a fight deal is that is all they receive if they fight a draw like Haye, the upside of it is Vitali is picking up that amount for fighting bums like Sosnowski and Briggs.
it's all a much of a muchness. but there is so little competition out there that we can't go around ruling guys out because the other brother already beat him. austin is no worse an option than briggs, at least he earnt his shot by fighting in an eliminator.
Last thing I read (source: Bild Germany) is the brothers signed a 5 fight deal worth 15 million EUR with RTL in May, 3 for Wlad and 2 for Vitali. That was before the Sosnowski fight. If he fights Briggs now Vitali's allotted fight schedule would be completed under the current contract while Wlad has 2 more to go, including Povetkin. You could argue Vitali is "just" making money, however it may also be due to RTL demanding fights to be made in a timely manner per their contract. Vitali just goes down the (worthless) WBC rankings and looks who's willing to get in the ring with him at some specific date. Makes it harder to get the best possible opponents.
Last thing I read about Austin is that he is involved in a legal battle with Don King and possibly also the WBC regarding his mandatory status.