By Cliff Rold

It didn’t look like much on paper.  It turned out to be as little as expected and, given a referee who was far too free with the health of Shannon Briggs (51-6-1, 45 KO), maybe a little worse.  When a division is all but cleaned out, and the few Heavyweights who appear live challengers for the top dog (dogs in this case) don’t seem in a hurry to make a run at the best, fights like Vitali Klitschko-Shannon Briggs happen.

Beatings like Klitschko-Briggs happen.

They don’t need to happen for as long as Saturday’s did.  Briggs’s path to a shot at the WBC belt wasn’t unheard of.  Despite not having beaten anyone with a pulse in almost four years, and having few wins of genuine note in an almost twenty year career (which includes the night he won a controversial decision over George Foreman for the lineal crown in 1997), Briggs had name value in a shallow pool. 

To his credit, the elder of the two Klitschko brothers, the other being World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir, did what he has done since returning from a near four-year layoff in 2008.  He showed up in great shape, moved his hands, and won every round of the fight.  While the quality of competition has dropped off in his last three fights, Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO) is clearly still an elite warrior at 39.

Let’s go the report card.

Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Klitschko B; Briggs B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Klitschko A-; Briggs B/Post: B+; Briggs B
Pre-Fight: Defense – Klitschko B+; Briggs C/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Klitschko A; Briggs D/Post: Klitschko A; Briggs C

There were two real storylines coming out of this fight.  The first is the lack of a stoppage sometime from round nine forward by the Briggs corner or referee Ian John Lewis.  For all intents, the contest was done when Briggs was staggered badly at the end of round seven (okay, it was actually done before the opening bell but we digress).

The last four rounds were sick farce.  Briggs landed one surprising right in the eleventh that caught Klitschko squared up, a surprise to both men.  Klitschko quickly returned to beating the hell out of Briggs.  It was brutal stuff and Briggs trip to the hospital afterwards spoke to the senselessness of it.  This was a mismatch going in.  There was no reason to allow room for tragedy.

I understand where some might argue for the continuance because of Briggs final round WBO belt winning knockout of Sergiy Lyakhovich in 2006 in a fight he was losing.  The difference this time was that the first eleven rounds weren’t some of the most uneventful ever seen in a Heavyweight fight.  Klitschko had Briggs in pocket early and rarely let up.

Briggs didn’t help by so rarely moving his hands.  Averaging just over 20 punches per round, Briggs confident posture in the early going was not reflected in his effort.  Activity has been a problem for Briggs throughout his career and was again but there was a bigger problem.  Klitschko.  As noted in the pre-fight report card, the young Briggs would have had a hard time against this version of Klitschko and, while younger than Klitschko on the calendar, there was a wide disparity of fighter quality to make up for.

The other major storyline was that the fight went the distance.  Klitschko hit Briggs with everything but the kitchen sink and couldn’t stop a fighter who has been on the floor versus Jameel McCline and knocked out back around the mid-90s by Lennox Lewis and Darrol Wilson.  Briggs deserves a nod for the manly way he took his beating but, having gone the route in two of his last three, one wonders if Vitali might be losing just a little something on his fastball.

Despite gaudy knockout numbers, Klitschko is not his younger brother.  He doesn’t have a nuclear missile for a right hand.  He has high output and, despite being a giant of a man, is a bit of a grinder.  His left jab/hook (it’s both really) stuns men all night and the right chops away at them.  Watch tape of Vitali from a decade ago and he’s clearly not as fast as he used to be.  Perhaps his shots are getting easier to see?  So far, it doesn’t matter; it just means getting hit with more of those heavy pieces of leather at the end of his arm.  Time will tell if anyone can do better than that.

Looking Ahead

Time will also tell if those who should try, well, try. 

For the 38-year old Briggs, one can hope he calls it a day.  He entered the fight with no realistic claim to being a contender anymore and he showed he can not seriously compete, even for a few exciting rounds as he once did, with the best.  Briggs is an amiable guy who, no matter the quality of the decision, can hang his hat on knowing that for a brief moment he was once part of a lineage of champions that includes Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, and the man he lost the claim to, Lennox Lewis.  No, he doesn’t rate with those men and he didn’t really earn the verdict that put him there, but he’s still in the club.  That he was never what some hoped, or thought, he could be is not the same as not having a respectable career.

For Klitschko the band rolls on and one wonders if he’ll lose a round, much less a fight, any times soon.  In 2011, which is when he can be assumed as fighting again, let’s hope there is something better to challenge him than a Briggs or Albert Sosnowski to give the question some value.  2010 has not been a great year for Vitali but it’s been worse for those who fail to challenge either he or his brother in the ring because its not like the Klitschko’s are in hiding.

The two most intriguing contenders right now, for either brother, are a pair of former Cruiserweight champions.  David Haye (24-1, 22 KO) has a WBA belt and talks a good game but has strong economic position and might milk that awhile, taking the earned arrows of looking the part of ‘ducker’ to the bank. 

Tomasz Adamek (42-1, 27 KO), also once a Light Heavyweight titlist, sounds like he might be ready to take a crack next year.  Of the two brothers, he would have a better shot against Vitali and their styles could mix for a fun fight.

Let’s be clear.  A better shot is not the same as saying Adamek can beat Vitali.  Odds are, he can’t.  However, his straight right hand, mobility, and skill level are superior to anyone Vitali has faced so far in the comeback.  Because his jab is also thrown straight and accurately, Adamek could make a go if he punches when Vitali does, beating the lopping left lead of Vitali to the spot.  At Heavyweight, it’s the fight I’d most want to watch next year, a David and Goliath battle where David shows up with his slingshot fully loaded.   

Report Card Picks 2010: 24-12

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com