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As Wladimir’s next fight has been set for November 11th, it looks more and more likely that his next opponent will be Shannon Briggs. While a contract hasn’t been signed yet, it seems both parties are coming closer to an agreement. Thus it’s highly likely that Wladimir’s first title defense of the IBF heavyweight belt will be against American Shannon Briggs (47-4-1, 41 KOs).
We decided to get in touch with Emanuel Steward, Wladimir’s trainer, to get his thoughts about Shannon Briggs, training strategy, and discuss other events that are shaping up the heavyweight division.
We met up with Emanuel this Wednesday, in NYC, where he was in a corner of his unbeaten prospect Johnathon Banks (12-0, 9 KOs), who was facing one of the most challenging fights in his career again Eliseo Castillo (20-2-1, 15 KOs).
After being floored twice in the first round, the kid was just barely surviving. No one in the crowd expected for him to make past second round, no one expect Emanuel. Not only did Emanuel brought confidence back into kid’s eyes, he also developed new strategy to come back and win this fight. Once again Emanuel Steward proved why he’s the legendary trainer.
As Emanuel and Banks celebrated their win, we set up an interview for this weekend when Emanuel returns to his hometown of Detroit. Once he returned to Detroit we got in touch with him and asked Emanuel few questions.
What have you heard about Wladimir’s upcoming fight on November 11th?
I hear that Shannon Briggs and Wladimir Klitschko are very likely to happen. It looks like things are about to be finalized and they will fight on November 11th.
What can you tell us about Shannon Briggs?
Of all the heavyweights in the world, Shannon Briggs is still the most dangerous heavyweight for the first two, three rounds. He’s very big, and has a lot of speed. He can box and punch. He fights somewhat like, and even faster than Corrie Sanders. Everything goes in the first few rounds with him, because he doesn’t get conditioned for a long fight, which means he’s going to be very dangerous in the beginning.
Where would Wladimir’s training camp be set up? Would it be in Pocono’s…
I would like to train in Pocono’s. It’s very close to New York and also we had good success there. We know where everything is, and Wladimir feels very comfortable there. Wladimir has his training routine, and his trails that he likes to run. Plus his conditioning coach lives close by.
Is this training going to be any different for Shannon Briggs fight? Any new style or technique?
It’s a little different to fight someone like Shannon Briggs, because Wladimir almost never has to fight some big. Shannon is big and very fast with his hands early on, but he’s not trained physically for a long fight. He looks for early knockouts. This means that for any heavyweight champion in history, whether it was Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Forman or Lennox Lewis - whom Shannon hurt in the first round also, Briggs is still very dangerous in the first two-three rounds.
Does Briggs have a problem with stamina?
Stamina doesn’t matter if you don’t get through first few rounds yourself.
And what could be Wladimir’s weakness in this fight?
Wladimir’s only weak spot in a fight with Shannon Briggs, and I know Wladimir would not let this happen, is to be relaxed. Wladimir’s skill level is superior to anyone in boxing now, and the only thing is that he could come in relaxed and Shannon could catch him early. But as far as boxing, conditioning, technique and focus – Wladimir is just great…but he must come in alert. And I’m sure he will after his experience with Corrie Sanders. I don’t think there’s going to be a problem. Wladimir will be very much alert, in great condition and focused.
Any predictions for Rahman-Maskayev fight?
I must go with Rahman on this one. This time he’s been more active with quality fighters, while Oleg hasn’t fought that much and didn’t have any quality opponents. When they fought before, I thought that he [Rahman] might be inexperienced, especially since he lacked amateur experience. But now he’s faced a lot of great heavyweight, Lennox Lewis, Holyfield, Tua... I just think he has developed into a more complete fighter than before.
Would you like Wladimir to fight Rahman next, after Briggs?
Yes I would like him to fight Rahman. That’s what we wanted to do in the first place. But Rahman had other commitments first. This is the fight that Wladimir wants to do more than anything else. Not only because he’ll fight for the WBC title, and also because of things Rahman had said about his brother.
Is this fight (Klitschko-Rahman) likely to happen sometime in 2006-2007?
I believe this fight would definitely happen. Wladimir has said that there’s only one thing that he wants to do – to unify the titles. He’s really not interested in just fights with #1 and #2 contenders. He mainly wants to do title fights, but because of contractual reasons and other things, it’s difficult for him to just fight for titles. But the most credible obligation he could make is to the WBC, because that’s the title his brother held, and Lennox Lewis held, and Larry Holms held, and Mohammed Ali held.
And he wants to win that championship. Then we could possibly fight Luakhovich and Valuev. The most important person for Wladimir right now is Hasim Rahman. But most dangerous opponent of all of them is Shannon Brigs. I never had much fear of Samuel Peter, he was slow and didn’t punch all that. But Shannon is much faster, bigger, and much more accurate. He presents the biggest danger of anyone in heavyweight division.
So you don’t think Samuel Peter can beat James Toney?
If James Toney gets his weight down to about 235 pounds, I think James Toney will win. If doesn’t, he’ll be too slow and Samuel Peter would just push him around.
Couple months ago, there was a lot of talk about Wladimir fighting James Toney. It didn’t work out, but would you like to see Wladimir fighting James Toney sometime in near future?
It may happen because that’s the fight that Wladimir was trying to make. Negotiations fell apart for whatever reasons. But it would be a big name, because James would always talk a lot.
When he sees me he always says ‘What I really want to is just to beat up one of the big boys you got, those Klitschko brothers. I like to beat up big guys, and since they are your babies, I want to knockout the Klitschkos.’ So he would talk about making big fight, but physically he’s just too small. He’s not big enough to beat either one of the Klitschkos.
Anything you would like to add about Wladimir and Vitali?
Wladimir Klitschko is the best heavyweight in boxing today. He’s in a class by himself. And he is gradually becoming the most perfect heavyweight boxer, maybe of all time. Not just because Wladimir is big but Wladimir is right now faster than all of the other heavyweights and most heavyweight throughout history.
To have speed and to have power is something that no other heavyweight. A lot of them, like Ali, had speed, but very few had speed ad power. So Wladimir is becoming the perfect fighter, with great hand speed and hand power, and becoming very fast with his legs also. He can explode and move so fast with his punches and feet, and then he would move back just as fast. He’s actually a lot faster than some of those small fighters. He should become an all time heavyweight. In the next few years he will take on everyone else, and not just beat them, but beat them very professionally. There would be no contest.
And Vitali has always been a fighter that was very underappreciated. Vitali would move in one speed and then he would punch at a different speed to keep his opponents confused. He has that unusual ability that I have never in any fighter – he can feel when someone is about to throw a certain punch, and he would move to neutralize that punch from wherever it comes. I never saw anyone that can do that. When you watch him in training he would be moving and moving to the left and then all of a sudden when he felt a guy is about to punch, he would stop, change his directions before the guy can punch and hit the guy at the same time as he changed his direction.
So he doesn’t look really flashy or colorful, but if you look at him closely he’s extremely effective and very intelligent man. He utilizes his height and fights very tall, which makes it very difficult for anyone to hit him. Wladimir is better coordinated, and more compact on the other hand, but they’re both equally effective in their own different ways.
Would like to see Vitali return to boxing?
Yes. If Vitali returns he would still be very difficult guy to beat. He still has it.
The problem that I have is that Vitali never did tell the public that those injuries he’s been suffering from, where mainly from his youth, when he was the world kickboxing champion.
Some people have questioned why he’s having so many problems, but he’s problems are mainly from his kickboxing times when he was getting kicked on his leg. He told me one day ‘ Emanuel I’m having more problems with my own personal injuries than I am with actually fighting an opponent.’ I was very surprised to hear him say that. He didn’t want to tell people cause they would think he’s finding excuses. But he was in so much pain when he trained and these problems were from all that damage that his body has sustained during his years as a kick boxer. So rather than having a heavyweight division tied up, which he could have done, he did a very honorable thing, and let other people fight for the title. If he had not been a gentleman he wouldn’t do that. He gave the championship so that others guys could fight for it and never complained about it.
But I think if he did decide to come back, he would be one of the hardest guys to beat. I’m sure he could still come back and be at the top.
We decided to get in touch with Emanuel Steward, Wladimir’s trainer, to get his thoughts about Shannon Briggs, training strategy, and discuss other events that are shaping up the heavyweight division.
We met up with Emanuel this Wednesday, in NYC, where he was in a corner of his unbeaten prospect Johnathon Banks (12-0, 9 KOs), who was facing one of the most challenging fights in his career again Eliseo Castillo (20-2-1, 15 KOs).
After being floored twice in the first round, the kid was just barely surviving. No one in the crowd expected for him to make past second round, no one expect Emanuel. Not only did Emanuel brought confidence back into kid’s eyes, he also developed new strategy to come back and win this fight. Once again Emanuel Steward proved why he’s the legendary trainer.
As Emanuel and Banks celebrated their win, we set up an interview for this weekend when Emanuel returns to his hometown of Detroit. Once he returned to Detroit we got in touch with him and asked Emanuel few questions.
What have you heard about Wladimir’s upcoming fight on November 11th?
I hear that Shannon Briggs and Wladimir Klitschko are very likely to happen. It looks like things are about to be finalized and they will fight on November 11th.
What can you tell us about Shannon Briggs?
Of all the heavyweights in the world, Shannon Briggs is still the most dangerous heavyweight for the first two, three rounds. He’s very big, and has a lot of speed. He can box and punch. He fights somewhat like, and even faster than Corrie Sanders. Everything goes in the first few rounds with him, because he doesn’t get conditioned for a long fight, which means he’s going to be very dangerous in the beginning.
Where would Wladimir’s training camp be set up? Would it be in Pocono’s…
I would like to train in Pocono’s. It’s very close to New York and also we had good success there. We know where everything is, and Wladimir feels very comfortable there. Wladimir has his training routine, and his trails that he likes to run. Plus his conditioning coach lives close by.
Is this training going to be any different for Shannon Briggs fight? Any new style or technique?
It’s a little different to fight someone like Shannon Briggs, because Wladimir almost never has to fight some big. Shannon is big and very fast with his hands early on, but he’s not trained physically for a long fight. He looks for early knockouts. This means that for any heavyweight champion in history, whether it was Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Forman or Lennox Lewis - whom Shannon hurt in the first round also, Briggs is still very dangerous in the first two-three rounds.
Does Briggs have a problem with stamina?
Stamina doesn’t matter if you don’t get through first few rounds yourself.
And what could be Wladimir’s weakness in this fight?
Wladimir’s only weak spot in a fight with Shannon Briggs, and I know Wladimir would not let this happen, is to be relaxed. Wladimir’s skill level is superior to anyone in boxing now, and the only thing is that he could come in relaxed and Shannon could catch him early. But as far as boxing, conditioning, technique and focus – Wladimir is just great…but he must come in alert. And I’m sure he will after his experience with Corrie Sanders. I don’t think there’s going to be a problem. Wladimir will be very much alert, in great condition and focused.
Any predictions for Rahman-Maskayev fight?
I must go with Rahman on this one. This time he’s been more active with quality fighters, while Oleg hasn’t fought that much and didn’t have any quality opponents. When they fought before, I thought that he [Rahman] might be inexperienced, especially since he lacked amateur experience. But now he’s faced a lot of great heavyweight, Lennox Lewis, Holyfield, Tua... I just think he has developed into a more complete fighter than before.
Would you like Wladimir to fight Rahman next, after Briggs?
Yes I would like him to fight Rahman. That’s what we wanted to do in the first place. But Rahman had other commitments first. This is the fight that Wladimir wants to do more than anything else. Not only because he’ll fight for the WBC title, and also because of things Rahman had said about his brother.
Is this fight (Klitschko-Rahman) likely to happen sometime in 2006-2007?
I believe this fight would definitely happen. Wladimir has said that there’s only one thing that he wants to do – to unify the titles. He’s really not interested in just fights with #1 and #2 contenders. He mainly wants to do title fights, but because of contractual reasons and other things, it’s difficult for him to just fight for titles. But the most credible obligation he could make is to the WBC, because that’s the title his brother held, and Lennox Lewis held, and Larry Holms held, and Mohammed Ali held.
And he wants to win that championship. Then we could possibly fight Luakhovich and Valuev. The most important person for Wladimir right now is Hasim Rahman. But most dangerous opponent of all of them is Shannon Brigs. I never had much fear of Samuel Peter, he was slow and didn’t punch all that. But Shannon is much faster, bigger, and much more accurate. He presents the biggest danger of anyone in heavyweight division.
So you don’t think Samuel Peter can beat James Toney?
If James Toney gets his weight down to about 235 pounds, I think James Toney will win. If doesn’t, he’ll be too slow and Samuel Peter would just push him around.
Couple months ago, there was a lot of talk about Wladimir fighting James Toney. It didn’t work out, but would you like to see Wladimir fighting James Toney sometime in near future?
It may happen because that’s the fight that Wladimir was trying to make. Negotiations fell apart for whatever reasons. But it would be a big name, because James would always talk a lot.
When he sees me he always says ‘What I really want to is just to beat up one of the big boys you got, those Klitschko brothers. I like to beat up big guys, and since they are your babies, I want to knockout the Klitschkos.’ So he would talk about making big fight, but physically he’s just too small. He’s not big enough to beat either one of the Klitschkos.
Anything you would like to add about Wladimir and Vitali?
Wladimir Klitschko is the best heavyweight in boxing today. He’s in a class by himself. And he is gradually becoming the most perfect heavyweight boxer, maybe of all time. Not just because Wladimir is big but Wladimir is right now faster than all of the other heavyweights and most heavyweight throughout history.
To have speed and to have power is something that no other heavyweight. A lot of them, like Ali, had speed, but very few had speed ad power. So Wladimir is becoming the perfect fighter, with great hand speed and hand power, and becoming very fast with his legs also. He can explode and move so fast with his punches and feet, and then he would move back just as fast. He’s actually a lot faster than some of those small fighters. He should become an all time heavyweight. In the next few years he will take on everyone else, and not just beat them, but beat them very professionally. There would be no contest.
And Vitali has always been a fighter that was very underappreciated. Vitali would move in one speed and then he would punch at a different speed to keep his opponents confused. He has that unusual ability that I have never in any fighter – he can feel when someone is about to throw a certain punch, and he would move to neutralize that punch from wherever it comes. I never saw anyone that can do that. When you watch him in training he would be moving and moving to the left and then all of a sudden when he felt a guy is about to punch, he would stop, change his directions before the guy can punch and hit the guy at the same time as he changed his direction.
So he doesn’t look really flashy or colorful, but if you look at him closely he’s extremely effective and very intelligent man. He utilizes his height and fights very tall, which makes it very difficult for anyone to hit him. Wladimir is better coordinated, and more compact on the other hand, but they’re both equally effective in their own different ways.
Would like to see Vitali return to boxing?
Yes. If Vitali returns he would still be very difficult guy to beat. He still has it.
The problem that I have is that Vitali never did tell the public that those injuries he’s been suffering from, where mainly from his youth, when he was the world kickboxing champion.
Some people have questioned why he’s having so many problems, but he’s problems are mainly from his kickboxing times when he was getting kicked on his leg. He told me one day ‘ Emanuel I’m having more problems with my own personal injuries than I am with actually fighting an opponent.’ I was very surprised to hear him say that. He didn’t want to tell people cause they would think he’s finding excuses. But he was in so much pain when he trained and these problems were from all that damage that his body has sustained during his years as a kick boxer. So rather than having a heavyweight division tied up, which he could have done, he did a very honorable thing, and let other people fight for the title. If he had not been a gentleman he wouldn’t do that. He gave the championship so that others guys could fight for it and never complained about it.
But I think if he did decide to come back, he would be one of the hardest guys to beat. I’m sure he could still come back and be at the top.
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