Vitali Klitschko and Brock Lesnar Set to Battle on Successive Weekends

WBC heavyweight champion “Dr. Iron Fist” Vitali Klitschko will defend his crown against Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs Saturday night in Hamburg, Germany.

The following weekend, UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is scheduled to battle undefeated challenger Cain Velazquez at UFC 121 in Anaheim, California.

In an epic and courageous comeback this past July, Lesnar managed to overcome an absolute beating to submit "The Engineer" Shane Carwin with an arm triangle choke at UFC 116 in Las Vegas.

Lesnar (5-1), who returned to the octagon three months ago for the first time in a year after battling a serious intestinal disorder called diverticulitis, was manhandled and badly bludgeoned by Carwin (12-1) in the opening round.

However, Lesnar somehow withstood the vicious assault and allowed Carwin to exhaust himself with his countless barrages of punches.

In the second round, a badly fatigued Carwin was essentially a lamb at the slaughter.

As Omar Little once said on The Wire, "You come at the king, you best not miss."

The tough Carwin expended all of his vast abilities and he still could not trump the beast ranked as the number one heavyweight in the world by Sherdog and MMA Weekly.

After Lesnar valiantly prevailed, my friends and I debated who would win a fight between the UFC megastar and current WBC world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali "Dr. Iron Fist" Klitschko.

"Brock would maim him," said Brad Sherwood, 30, a South Boston resident who works as a personal trainer at Gold's Gym Medford.

Vitali (40-2, 38 KOs) was chosen over his younger brother, IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine titlist Wladimir (54-3, 48 KOs), because the consensus in the room was he is the tougher of the two Ukrainian's.

Furthermore, the elder Klitschko was an accomplished kickboxer who amassed an impressive mark of 34-1 with 22 knockouts.

Vitali's two losses were extremely flimsy and unconvincing.

In April 2000, Klitschko easily outclassed Chris Byrd (40-6-1, 22 KOs) for nine rounds before he was forced to quit on his stool due to a torn rotator cuff.

In June 2003, Klitschko was beating one of the greatest heavyweight champions ever, Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs), after six rounds of captivating action.

Unfortunately, and justifiably, the referee halted the contest prior to the start of round seven and awarded Lewis the victory due to a drastically severe gash over Klitschko's left eye.

Hence, Vitali Klitschko has never been genuinely trumped in the squared circle.

Klitschko has not once been knocked to the canvas in a professional bout and he owns the highest knockout percentage (95%) of any heavyweight in history.

It is indisputable that Klitschko can hit harder than Carwin and "The Engineer" initially gained the advantage when he struck Lesnar from a standing position with a powerful uppercut near the cage.

The same punch from Klitschko would have rendered Lesnar immediately unconscious.

Nevertheless, Brock is the epitome of a brute brawler and his grappling prowess would create enormous trouble for Klitschko.

In a series of fantasy matchups, Lesnar would emerge victorious over Klitschko approximately seven times out of ten.

Klitschko would knock Lesnar onto Queer Street and win in the first round to achieve his three victories.

Conversely, Lesnar would submit Klitschko on the ground in the opening minutes to emerge victorious on seven occasions.

Brock Lesnar will never scrap Vitali Klitschko.

However, it's a fun contest to envision and it makes for an interesting sports bar argument.