By Jake Donovan
There’s no question that the best heavyweight in the world was in the ring on Saturday evening at the O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany. It’s just a matter of whether he was gloved up or dressed in civilian clothes standing by in support.
With current lineal heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko in his corner, older brother Vitali Klitschko won every minute of every round against former lineal champ Shannon Briggs, but was forced to go all 12 rounds en route to a landslide shutout win on all three scorecards.
Scores were 120-105 and 120-107 (twice) for Klitschko. The fact that there were no knockdowns speaks even louder of Klitschko’s dominance, racking up three 10-8 rounds on two of the scorecards.
For all of his pre-fight trash talk, Briggs did what he does best – fall way short once the opening bell rang, barely throwing more than 10 punches per round and not resembling anything close to a fighter deserving of a title shot, even in an era of multiple alphabet belts.
Klitschko had Briggs badly hurt on several occasions, but could never quite land that final blow to put away the Brooklynite. The dominance came in the same manner as all of the elder s wins – round after round, inflicting pain via attrition as no single punch seemed to provide significant damage.
That he’s never been known as a one-hitter quitter perhaps cost him the knockout he hoped to score in this fight, as Briggs was able to weather the storm round after round. There was a moment after the tenth round in which Briggs struggled to find his stool in the corner, but mustered up the strength to fight on for two more rounds just to be able to say he successfully crossed the finish line.
The American was a swollen, bloody mess by fight’s end, but received applause from the crowd and praise from the commentators for never folding, although it could be argued that his lack of offense can be viewed as quitting without actually signaling ‘surrender.’
Physical disfigurement still wasn’t enough to satisfy Klitschko, who gave Briggs dap after the final bell before angrily walking around the ring, visibly upset over not being able to add to the mark of the highest knockout percentage in heavyweight history that he currently possesses.
The win moves Klitschko’s mark to 41-2 (38KO), scoring his sixth win since returning to the ring two years ago. The fight was just the third time in his career that he has been forced to go the distance, though now the second time in his past three fights.
Briggs falls to 51-6-1 (KO), snapping a three-fight win streak that amassed a total of just over two minutes worth of ring time against non-descript opposition.
As long as they refuse to fight each other, the question rages on as to which Klitschko brother is the world’s best heavyweight. If Briggs’ endorsement is worth anything, then the answer to that question is the guy that just fought.
“To be honest, I fought George Foreman, Lennox Lewis… this is by far the best fighter I’ve ever fought,” Briggs claimed in his post-fight interview.
Despite his pre-fight hype which extended all the way through Friday’s weigh-in, Briggs spoke with the utmost respect of Klitschko as well as K2 Promotions as a whole, thanking the promotional group for the level of hospitality extended to his team.
Klitschko reciprocated, praising his opponent for his ability to take a beating round after round and never wilting.
“He’s tough; he’s a real man,” claimed Klitschko, who has barely lost a round since his October 2008 ring return following a nearly four-year hiatus.
Klitschko expressed disappointment in not being able to close the show, but reached a point where he was still content with the level of dominance exuded over all twelve rounds.
“There were moments where you hope for (the stoppage). I thought I had him in the end, but he wouldn’t go down. What can you do?”
All you can do is keep attempting to make a case for yourself as the best heavyweight in the world – though such an argument holds greater validity when you yourself don’t nominate another candidate.
In pre-fight interviews, Vitali referred to his younger brother Wladimir as the best in the world and that he was clearly second fiddle. His recent level of opposition does little have anyone argue with such a statement, as the optional defense against Briggs comes five months after his mismatch with undeserving challenger Albert Sosnowski.
Meanwhile, Wladimir continues to rack up win after win against legitimate Top 10 opposition, and is also the only heavyweight in the 21st century to successfully unify any of the various alphabet titles. The younger Klitschko’s current six-year win streak includes wins over Chris Byrd (rematch) and Sultan Ibragimov while they reigned as titlists.
He also owns a stoppage win over Ruslan Chagaev while the then-unbeaten southpaw was still an alphabet titlist, though his belt wasn’t on the line in the fight due to his failure to defend in a less-desirable rematch against mandatory challenger Nikolai Valuev.
Vitali’s lone title win in his comeback tour came in his very first fight back, dominating Samuel Peter before forcing the Nigerian to quit on his stool after eight rounds to lift the alphabet strap he held for nearly two years before vacating in 2005 due to multiple injuries that prevented him from fighting.
His 2009 campaign was solid enough to earn Fighter of the Year runner-up honors in many circles, scoring wins over three Top 10 heavyweights – Juan Carlos Gomez and a pair of previously unbeaten challengers in Chris Arreola and Kevin Johnson.
With the current trend of top heavyweights avoiding title challenges rather than pursuing, it’s doubtful that any further clarity is reached in the great Klitschko debate.
But as long as they continue to support one another, the one constant that will remain is that the best heavyweight in the world will be in the ring whenever either one fights.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
