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I am in the process of watching/rewatching fights of the Klitschkos...I am watching Vitali-Briggs right now. I am going to review these two right here, right soon. I will review them on a fight to fight basis, as well as the opposition.
Vitali-Briggs
VITALI PROS
Vitali's best asset so far is his speed of hands. He has great handspeed for sure, much quicker than I remembered him being in the Corrie Sanders fight, and much quicker than most heavyweights would have
Cool calm and collected, I admire that he isn't for one jumping all over the human punching bag and risking a huge counter punch like most fighters would
Good head movement
Good accuracy
Good short combinations, all of the punches usually land and are effectively placed
VITALI CONS
No real power, he has no heavyweight puncher power whatsoever. He has landed good flush shots on Briggs chin and Briggs doesn't even flinch. Briggs has a pretty good chin, no doubt about that. The problem is that people here are comparing Vitali's power to Tyson, Lewis, even Wlad. Their is absolutely no way, not in any way, that from what I have seen in this fight that Vitali has even one inkling of the power that Tyson or Lewis had, I can confirm this by watching training highlights. Vitali has, I think it is safe to say, less than average heavyweight punching power
No footwork at all. Vitali has kept his feet planted the entire fight, no movement whatsoever. This would be standing in acid the entire fight against a great pressure fighter like Tyson or Frazier or a devastating puncher like Foreman.
And most of all, he hangs that left hand LOOOOWWWW occasionally lowering that right hand as well. Against a great counter puncher like Lewis, Ali, Louis, or a few others this would be game over, I don't care how fast he can get it back up or move backwards, years of experience tell me that he would only need to get nailed one time, and he is inviting it throughout most of this Briggs fight. And to note, Briggs certainly CAN punch, this move is unprofessional of Vitali IMHO.
SHANNON BRIGGS
Briggs was a very good fighter back in the day, very good. Credit to him for hanging in their against Vitali like he did, he didn't even come close to winning a single round by my book, he took a massive beating. But one cannot overlook that Briggs was basically just a walking 260lbs punching bag the entire fight. He landed not one significant blow the entire fight. Basically he was Old George Foreman without arms. Slow, Plodding, and just waiting to be retired.
I just cannot see how Briggs could have deserved this fight, it was a complete blowout. Only a few big peeves from Klitschko for me, I don't feel that his lack of real power would be a huge issue for him considering his speed and accuracy. I do feel like Vitali disrespected Briggs severely in the later rounds by holding his hands by his side. Vitali's work rate and overall attitude here was very non-aggressive, he was merely outrunning Briggs and not engaging him at all, old school fighters will vomit over this showing, but I don't think it was all bad, smart boxing from Vitali, nothing brave, spectacular, or notable about it besides that. It is not realistic to think that the fighter that was in this ring would be able to take on a legitimate ATG, he has nothing on them.
Vitali-Briggs
VITALI PROS
Vitali's best asset so far is his speed of hands. He has great handspeed for sure, much quicker than I remembered him being in the Corrie Sanders fight, and much quicker than most heavyweights would have
Cool calm and collected, I admire that he isn't for one jumping all over the human punching bag and risking a huge counter punch like most fighters would
Good head movement
Good accuracy
Good short combinations, all of the punches usually land and are effectively placed
VITALI CONS
No real power, he has no heavyweight puncher power whatsoever. He has landed good flush shots on Briggs chin and Briggs doesn't even flinch. Briggs has a pretty good chin, no doubt about that. The problem is that people here are comparing Vitali's power to Tyson, Lewis, even Wlad. Their is absolutely no way, not in any way, that from what I have seen in this fight that Vitali has even one inkling of the power that Tyson or Lewis had, I can confirm this by watching training highlights. Vitali has, I think it is safe to say, less than average heavyweight punching power
No footwork at all. Vitali has kept his feet planted the entire fight, no movement whatsoever. This would be standing in acid the entire fight against a great pressure fighter like Tyson or Frazier or a devastating puncher like Foreman.
And most of all, he hangs that left hand LOOOOWWWW occasionally lowering that right hand as well. Against a great counter puncher like Lewis, Ali, Louis, or a few others this would be game over, I don't care how fast he can get it back up or move backwards, years of experience tell me that he would only need to get nailed one time, and he is inviting it throughout most of this Briggs fight. And to note, Briggs certainly CAN punch, this move is unprofessional of Vitali IMHO.
SHANNON BRIGGS
Briggs was a very good fighter back in the day, very good. Credit to him for hanging in their against Vitali like he did, he didn't even come close to winning a single round by my book, he took a massive beating. But one cannot overlook that Briggs was basically just a walking 260lbs punching bag the entire fight. He landed not one significant blow the entire fight. Basically he was Old George Foreman without arms. Slow, Plodding, and just waiting to be retired.
I just cannot see how Briggs could have deserved this fight, it was a complete blowout. Only a few big peeves from Klitschko for me, I don't feel that his lack of real power would be a huge issue for him considering his speed and accuracy. I do feel like Vitali disrespected Briggs severely in the later rounds by holding his hands by his side. Vitali's work rate and overall attitude here was very non-aggressive, he was merely outrunning Briggs and not engaging him at all, old school fighters will vomit over this showing, but I don't think it was all bad, smart boxing from Vitali, nothing brave, spectacular, or notable about it besides that. It is not realistic to think that the fighter that was in this ring would be able to take on a legitimate ATG, he has nothing on them.
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