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Ray Mercer and Shannon Briggs were years past there prime when Klitschko fought them
Wlad never fought briggs! He beat mcline and ibragimov who both domintaed briggs, both put him down too!.
Jameel McCline beat Shannon Briggs in 2002 99-90/99-90/ 99-90
Shannon Briggs lost to Sultan Ibragimov in 2007 111-117/109-119/113-115
Briggs was never that good, he got a gift draw vs bummy botha, arguably did not do enough vs a fat foreman, gave a good account vs lewis early. He beat mercer 3 years after wlad had finished with him, he was lucky to stop Siarhei Liakhovich after being outboxed for 11 rounds (sergei was coming off that brutal ATG fight with brewster, which probably factored into his loss to briggs)
So what if mercer was older,thats not wlads fault, he was still undefeated post lewis (after tearing lewis up for 10 rounds let me add) Mercer wasn't "shot" when he got annihilated by Wlad. He is the same age as vitali (who is still dominant HW champ) is now!
Mercer was coming off a 7 fight winning streak (7-0, 6 KOs) since the close MD against Lewis. He was in great shape for the Wlad fight, weighed 228 lbs, 10 lbs lighter than he was against Lewis.
Wlad became the first man to knockdown and KO Mercer.
Mercer started late as a professional at 28. He had never been knocked out prior to this fight. He had never been knocked down prior to this fight except a slip duck against Holyfield. He wasn't hurt. He had only lost close decisions to Lewis, Holyfield, Holmes, and Ferguson. His last loss was a majority decision loss to Lewis prior to this fight. He KOed 6 men and decisioned Tim Witherspoon after Lewis and before Vladimir. Mercer had little wear and was still a tough fighter til K. Green Wlad KO6 Mercer.
As for vitali vs briggs, they are contemporaries, same age, and it was one of the most one sided sustained beatdowns in history! During the fight Briggs took a severe beating and, after the fight, went down in his quarters. Brought to a hospital Briggs was initially treated in intensive care and found to have suffered a left orbital fracture, a broken nose, and a torn left biceps. In addition, he had another facial fracture above the right eye and a burst ear drum.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...008/briggs.jpg