By Dave Lahr: Big Shannon Briggs (51-5-1, 45 KO’s) is under 250 pounds and in the best shape of his career since 2001. He’s ready to take on and destroy World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (40-2, 38 KO’s) on October 16th, in their title fight at the O2 World Arena, in Hamburg, Germany. Briggs, 38, has been scaling in between 260 and 270 for the past nine years, and that kind of weight has been a little too much for his 6’4″ frame. But now that’s he’s down to under 250, it’s like Briggs has turned back the clock a decade and is fighting like a fighter in his late 20s rather than his late 30s.

Vitali is in big trouble in this fight. With Vitali suddenly having lost the little hand speed that he had, he’s not going to have anything going for him in the Briggs fight. His reach, which he usually has over his shorter opponents, is completely negated because Briggs’ reach is identical to his. Vitali won’t be the bigger puncher in this fight, because Briggs hits harder and has much faster hands than him. Like I’ve said in the past, the only thing that Vitali has going for him in this fight is the German crowd, and I don’t think he can even count on that for long.

Once Briggs starts landing his cannon shots, I think the German crowd will quickly abandon Vitali and fall in behind Briggs, much in the same way that the German crowd abandoned Vitali in his moment of need in his 9th round stoppage loss to Chris Byrd in April 2000. Briggs is going to turn up the heat on Vitali and start working him over with power shots early on. Once the crowd realizes that Vitali doesn’t have a chance in this fight, they’ll turn on him and start backing Briggs so that they don’t go home disappointed. The difference between Briggs and Klitschko’s hand speed will be startling. This is going to be like watching the tortoise vs. the hare. Vitali isn’t going to be able to bull Briggs around the ring, because Briggs will be wider, stronger and faster than the slow-footed Vitali. I think this fight is going to get out of hand quickly because of Briggs’ power and speed advantage. We’re going to see Vitali get old in front of our very eyes against Briggs. Vitali has been able to avoid getting beaten down up to this point because he’s been selectively picking his opponents. Well, he selected Briggs and he made a huge mistake.