Vitali Klitschko successfully defended his WBC heavyweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Shannon Briggs tonight at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
Briggs walked to the ring looking focused and ready, and while he waited for Klitschko to enter the ring, the crowd and the viewing television audience were greeted with random black and white images on a screen that I struggle to see had any relevance to the bout and Klitschko, himself, except for showing Vitali throwing punches every now and again.
When it was time for Vitali to make his entrance, he did so, unshaved and walked a little faster to the ring than usual as if to want to make a quick job of Briggs and get the bout over with.
Once the national anthems were played for both fighter’s countries, Shannon pointed at Vitali as if he was determined to get victory tonight!
However, that was not to be as the bell sounded for round 1 and Briggs was hit very early in the round with a typical Klitschko right hand which quickly became the norm until the bell sounded to end it.
Once round 2 got underway, Briggs was backed against the ropes with Vitali’s jab and was, again, found with more right hands and there was little output from Briggs since the bell started the fight.
In the 4th, Vitali was caught with some body shots but answered that by piling on the pressure and began frequently hitting Shannon with left and right hands.
When the 7th round got underway, Shannon was, again, driven back to the ropes with more right’s and the crowd began to sense that an ending was near.
As the bell sounded to end the round, Klitschko almost scored a knockout as he hit Briggs heavily with more hooks that appeared to daze the American but British referee, Ian John, shockingly sent him back to his corner!
The bout began to look sickening as Klitschko hit his target at will with precision and accuracy in the 8th.
In the 9th, the crowd began clapping due to impatience and was desperate for a knockout and, although one always looked inevitable and always near, it never came as Shannon continued to show his heart and courage to soak up any punishment that Klitschko could dish out.
By the end of the 10th round, the face of Briggs was a bloody mess but neither his corner team nor the ref pulled him out!
It was a one way street in the 11th and 12th rounds as Shannon continued to take even more unnecessary punches, hit with right and left hands, seldom trying to hit back and the bell finally sounded to end the last round and the expression of Briggs said it all while the scores were tallied up.
Michael Buffer read out an unsurprising unanimous decision for the Ukrainian in what was, in all, a dull and very one sided affair!
I do feel that it is necessary to say that referee, Ian John, should be summoned for his duty during tonight’s bout as there was no need for Briggs to take as many punches as he did, admirably as that may be.
His corner team should also take some criticism for not pulling him out when it was plain to see as early as the 7th round that their fighter was not firing back, only willing to survive the fight.
Boxing is a dangerous enough sport as it is and those responsible during a bout should always be accurate in their assessment of the well being of both boxers and not to let emotion cloud their judgement!
Congratulations to Vitali Klitschko, who keeps dominating a very dire heavyweight division!
