By Scott Gilfoid: If IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 53 KOs) is unable to negotiate a fight against unbeaten #2 WBA, #3 WBC, #5 WBO, #8 IBF Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10 KOs) in the early part of 2015, then Klitschko will wind up facing the 43-year-old Shannon Briggs (57-6-1, 50 KOs), according to Fightnews.com.
The Klitschko-Briggs or Klitschko-Jennings fights will take place in New York, and will be televised on HBO. Wladimir’s manager Bernd Bonte says that Briggs will be the backup plan if the Jennings fight doesn’t get made.
There’s no reason for the Jennings-Klitschko fight not to get made, however, because it’s unlikely that Jennings’ management are going to make it difficult to put the fight together. Jennings and his team obviously feel confident about their man’s chances of beating the 38-year-old Wladimir, and all they need is a chance to fight him so they can take his straps.
Wladimir vs. Briggs is a fight that would attract a lot of interest by German television. Briggs has done a good job of attracting interest in a fight between him and Wladimir despite the fact that Briggs hasn’t beaten anyone that you could call a quality heavyweight since he started his comeback earlier this year in April.
Briggs has won his last six fights against largely 3rd tier opposition with five of his six knockouts occurring in the 1st round. The World Boxing Association has responded by ranking Briggs No.7 with their organization. That’s made things easy for Briggs, because he hasn’t had to take any chances by fighting an actual contender in order to get ranked in the top 10.
Briggs fought for a world title four years ago against Wladimir’s older brother Vitali Klitschko, and the result was an easy 12 round decision win for Vitali. Briggs looks to be about the same fighter that was easily beaten by Vitali.
Obviously, this is a fight that would attract little interest in the U.S, but you can’t blame Wladimir for milking his titles. I mean, he’s getting kind of old and the Briggs fight would be the perfect title milking bout for him. There would be little risk and an easy payday for Wladimir.
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