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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. [Click Here To Read More]
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. [Click Here To Read More]
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