On Saturday October 16th, reigning WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko puts his title on the line against former champion Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs. These two fighters have the greatest knockout ratios in a title fight of any active fighters. Briggs has beaten 51 other men, 45 by way of knockout. Klitschko has KO’d 38 of his 40 opponents, and claims to have never been knocked down in a fight. That’s two astounding knockout records from two extremely heavy punchers, and hopefully means their fight will be a blockbuster.

As of Friday night, the current champ Vitali is heavily favored by the oddsmakers and so-called experts to best the massive Briggs. Some have it 1-4 that Vitali KO’s Briggs and 13-1 that Briggs does the honors. Shannon lost his title in 2007 to Sultan Ibragimov when his asthma sapped him of energy in the bout and he was soundly outpointed. Since then he took some time off then came back to knock out 4 men in a row in the first round (the first of which was changed to a NC after a failed Briggs drug test). Now the former champ is looking to regain his status against Vitali as a beltholder all over again; at the same time he has made his asthma the center of a testy verbal fight with the elder Klitschko. That’s because Vitali has accused Briggs of using his asthma as an excuse for losing his fights or for performing poorly during them. “This is not a deadly disease. Look at his fights, and you will understand that asthma – it’s just a good excuse,” Klitschko noted. Briggs has vowed to exact revenge against “Dr. Ironfist” for this slanderous slight against him. “There are 300 million people in the world with asthma and not one of them would agree with Vitali Klitschko that it’s nothing serious,” said Briggs. “I have been in the trenches of this deadly disease and seen the heartbreak it causes.”

The 38 year old Briggs weighed in at 262 pounds for the showdown, with Vitali at 251. Vitali is 6’8″ tall while Briggs is 6’4″, making Shannon one of the tallest men that Vitali will have ever faced. The champion is used to punching down at his foes, so this will be a new challenge for the Dr. Vitali had this to say about his foe:
“Shannon Briggs, it’s not just my opinion but it’s the opinion of many experts that Shannon Briggs is a very strong very powerful opponent. Right now in the heavyweight division it’s small opponents. There are no big heavyweights. Mike Tyson is not active anymore, Evander Holyfield is not as good as a couple of years ago, Lennox Lewis is retired, and there are no big names. Right now it’s me and my brother Wladimir dominating the heavyweight division. We have actually three world titles out of four, the most important titles. We control all of the heavyweight division and right now we’re ready to fight anyone. But David Haye doesn’t want to fight and Nikolai Valuev, the big guy from Russia, is also not ready. My next fight is against one of the top fighters in the world. One of the strongest fighters in the world is Shannon Briggs. He has an excellent record, he has more experience than me, he actually has the world record for knocking more opponents out in the first two rounds than any heavyweight in the world. He’s actually a very strong opponent and in my personal opinion, and not just my opinion but the opinion of experts, this will be the perfect fight for all of the boxing audience.”

Briggs, on the other hand, got more to the point when asked about his upcoming fight with the Klitschko brother. He simply states, “I will knock him out or he will quit in his corner on the stool. I’ll win on October 16 and I will then look to fight Wladimir and then David Haye to unify all of the belts. After that, Adamek will be my last fight.”

“Shannon is a good fighter. He’s strong. He has a lot of experience, he’s a big puncher, he’s very fast, and this will not be an easy fight,” Vitali stated. “I am more than sure I have better skills, better boxing skills, than Shannon Briggs. I want to show that inside the ring.”

Considering the state of the heavyweight division, there’s more than one fan who’s hoping to see great things from the Klitschko vs Briggs matchup. The potential is there for a slugfest, knockout obliteration at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany… here’s hoping we see one! The fight will be shown at 5pm Eastern time on espn3.com.

1. Klitschko rules with an iron fist, batters Briggs in unanimous decision win