By Dave Lahr: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (40-2, 38 KO’s) will be facing his worst nightmare on Saturday night when he faces Shannon Briggs (51-5-1, 45 KO’s) at the O2 World Arena, in Hamburg, Germany. At 39, Vitali is like an old car with a lot of miles on him. He’s been taken up mostly gentle slopes in the past two years since making a comeback after four hears out of the ring.

The easy fodder that Klitschko has been put in with has disguised the fact that he’s lost and is still losing much of his hand speed. In his last two fights, it’s become painfully obvious that Klitschko has lost so much of his hand speed that he can no longer land right hands unless his opponent is bent over and standing perfectly still.

Vitali can’t hit his opposition with any degree of accuracy when they’re standing at a distance and he can only land if he’s throwing arm punches. The problem for Vitali on Saturday is that Briggs is a huge puncher. When I say huge, I mean like as big a puncher as Lennox Lewis was, only much more thick and sturdy.

Along with his huge power, Briggs also has incredibly fast hand speed for a heavyweight his size. Briggs looks to be just as fast as WBA heavyweight champion David Haye, who many boxing fans see as the fastest puncher in the heavyweight division.

Briggs can knock you out with head shots or body shots. Right now, Vitali is probably thinking only in terms of the head shots he’s going to be worrying about from Briggs. However, Briggs goes to the body like nobody I’ve seen before. His left hook to the body is a fight ender.

If Briggs catches Vitali with one of his body shots, he’s likely going to have Vitali rolling around on the canvas in total agony. And believe me, Briggs will catch Klitshko with a body shot and probably in the 1st round.

I see this fight ending suddenly with Briggs landing a huge body shot that will send Klitschko down on the canvas where will be quickly counted out. I don’t know where Vitali can go from here. He’s almost 40, and that’s ripe for a heavyweight. He might as well retire rather than carry on get wiped out again by Briggs in a rematch.