BoxRec

I just think he should have hung in there and fought Rahman and claimed a name for himself instead of "exiting stage right".

BoxBuzz wrote:I just think he should have hung in there and fought Rahman and claimed a name for himself instead of "exiting stage right".

Yeah, he should have shown some toughness and come in with only one leg.

>>>I just think he should have hung in there and fought Rahman and claimed a name for himself instead of "exiting stage right".<<<

That's all anyone has ever asked...for him to just give it his best effort, yet he post-poned the bout with Rahman over and over sometime with just hang-nails! As you said...at least Wlad is trying and giving it a shot...Vitali just flat out quit!

Your just trying to make up your own reality here... Vitali had an injury so he was pulled out of the fight, thats not 'quitting'. The amusing thing is that you same guys get all emotional if Tysons defeats against Williams and Mcbride are mentioned and start crying 'BUT! BUT! BUT! HE WAS INJURED!!!!!'

a shot evander holyfield fought 12 rounds with a rotator cuff vs chris bryd. holy had no shot at winning either!!!


so are u suggesting that there is no way vitali could have sucked it up and just fought for 3 more short rounds vs brdy, when evander holyfield could fight 12 rounds vs bryd with the exact same injury???

I was sort of referring to his career....but a man has to do what a man has to do. Like I said Wlad still hangin tough in the sport. But big brother just took a walk. Sorry to see it, but I guess he had enough and packed it in.

barry wrote:>>>So you dont think that Vitali having a torn rotator cuff against Byrd had any impact on the fight???<<<

Not really...it's just simply an injury that is not that painful!

What would you know about it, have you ever had one or fought with one?... I've had one and its painful as hell and immobilises your arm... you need to up the research...

Muhammad Ali should really have done a few more fights even when he delivered Parkinson's disease.

What a quitter.

borinken25 wrote:

silkov wrote:

borinken25 wrote:
IMO Byrd defense made Vitali quit. He knew he couldn't do anything and he just simply gave up. Lewis was out of shape and even like that he stop Vitali on cuts that were as big as The Grand Canyon. He simply lost to two better fighters.

So you dont think that Vitali having a torn rotator cuff against Byrd had any impact on the fight???...

I'm sorry Silkov, but the torn rotator came because of Byrd's great defense, and IMO it wasn't a freak accident. Byrd made him miss so much and Vitali was trying to KO him and couldn't again because Byrd's defense. So IMO is similar to a TKO. It wasn't a punch, but it was the defense in this case that made Byrd the winner.

Too right. And what I'm not happy with is that Byrd (not a fighter I am overly keen on watching - tap, tap crap in the extreme) gets no credit for hanging in there and coming on strong to make Vitali quit.

I understand what people are saying about Vitali winning almost all the completed rounds and fighting for several of those rounds with a shoulder injury. But if he'd been winning so easily with the injury why didn't he just see out the last 2 rounds if Tyrdie was being outclassed and just doing nothing effective?

As I see it, and of course it's all subjective, the Tyrd Man was starting to get some shots in and Vitali's heart went. That's fine. No one should be forced to continue if they want to retire but they have to live with the consequences.

Not one person ever said anything about Tyson other than he quit...on a couple of occasions...and Vitali's injury was weak, certainly nothing that would merit the quit-job he tried to feed us...and you start all over with the lies trying to claim peop[le getting emotional...the only person that has been emotional is those that hang on the nuts of Vitali...and what upsets them...the fact that people tell it like it is about the wuss-injury. The reason Vitali quit was the he was about to be knocked out by the very light hitting Byrd...it was not his shoulder because that type of injury is not severe...he was scared of being KO'd by a middleweight and he probably wo7uld have been had he not wimped out!

Collins2000 wrote:Too right. And what I'm not happy with is that Byrd (not a fighter I am overly keen on watching - tap, tap crap in the extreme) gets no credit for hanging in there and coming on strong to make Vitali quit.

What?? Getting credit for landing a few punches against a severly injured man, after having been outboxed by a one-armed opponent for 8 long rounds?

Get real, chico.

I understand what people are saying about Vitali winning almost all the completed rounds and fighting for several of those rounds with a shoulder injury. But if he'd been winning so easily with the injury why didn't he just see out the last 2 rounds if Tyrdie was being outclassed and just doing nothing effective?

First, there were three rounds to go. Second, I see no reason whatsoever not to believe Vitali when he says the pain had gotten overwehlming.

barry wrote:Not one person ever said anything about Tyson other than he quit...on a couple of occasions...and Vitali's injury was weak, certainly nothing that would merit the quit-job he tried to feed us...

If you had at leas the slightest clue about the things you're talking about. Vitali underwent four hours of surgery after the fight.

>>>What would you know about it<<<

What do I know about it...I had the exact same injury when I was around 13, yet I continued to pitch for two years without any repair surgery...in fact I never had anything done to it because I would have had to quit baseball forever if I would have gotten the surgery, so during the years 13 thru 16 I pitched with the exact same injury that Vitali had and the only difference is that it is a hell of a lot more difficult to throw six, seven and eight consecutive innnings every five, or six days. Oh it hurt like hell at times, but I never quit because of it!

And for the record...itr sure looks like the majority here are of sound mind and see Vitali's career for what it was and also see the Byrd-Vitali fight for what it truly was...not the fantasy-land tale where Vitali never quit and never lost a fight! Majority rules, infact I have only seen two people making the ridiculous claims about Vitali not quitting and not losing...two of you...where is the rest?

Anyway I'll address the original question while you all are throwin fryin' pans at one another.

We will never know! The guy bailed out to early in his career for us to make a sound judgement as to just what potential he may or may not have had.

barry wrote:two of you...where is the rest?

They must have fallen from the sky like little angels.

>>>If you had at leas the slightest clue about the things you're talking about. Vitali underwent four hours of surgery after the fight.<<<

You see you know not a damn thing about the injury other than the fact that Vitali said that is was brutally painful, which that is pure bullshit...you don't know if it hurts...you don't know that after while the shoulder actually goes numb and you also do not know that with that kind of injury it doesn't hurt to move around...it hurts when the shoulder is moved, but it's nothing that should make a supposed top-flight heavyweight quit...not the FACT of the situation are as Collins pointed out...Vitali realized that Byrd was landing more and more head shot which has visibly began to rock Vitali, so what does he do...he quits instead of being knocked out!!!

>>>We will never know! The guy bailed out to early in his career for us to make a sound judgement as to just what potential he may or may not have had.<<<

But that pretty much sums up the question...Vitali was not able to rise to the occasion for the two fights that he should have and it is very doubtful if he could have ever rose to the occasion and his actual potential was pretty much summed up in those two fights...he simply lacked heart...as is evidenced with his flat-out quitting when the going got tough!

pundit wrote:

Collins2000 wrote:Too right. And what I'm not happy with is that Byrd (not a fighter I am overly keen on watching - tap, tap crap in the extreme) gets no credit for hanging in there and coming on strong to make Vitali quit.

What?? Getting credit for landing a few punches against a severly injured man, after having been outboxed by a one-armed opponent for 8 long rounds?

Get real, chico.

I understand what people are saying about Vitali winning almost all the completed rounds and fighting for several of those rounds with a shoulder injury. But if he'd been winning so easily with the injury why didn't he just see out the last 2 rounds if Tyrdie was being outclassed and just doing nothing effective?

First, there were three rounds to go. Second, I see no reason whatsoever not to believe Vitali when he says the pain had gotten overwehlming.

Ok, mate, we'll have to agree to differ.

There are plenty who agree with your opinion and plenty who disagree.

No new evidence has been presented during any of the related threads so I guess no one is about to change their stance and we are just restating our own views ad nauseum.

I'll take 'chico' as the North American version of 'mate'.

Collins2000 wrote:

pundit wrote:

Collins2000 wrote:Too right. And what I'm not happy with is that Byrd (not a fighter I am overly keen on watching - tap, tap crap in the extreme) gets no credit for hanging in there and coming on strong to make Vitali quit.

What?? Getting credit for landing a few punches against a severly injured man, after having been outboxed by a one-armed opponent for 8 long rounds?

Get real, chico.

I understand what people are saying about Vitali winning almost all the completed rounds and fighting for several of those rounds with a shoulder injury. But if he'd been winning so easily with the injury why didn't he just see out the last 2 rounds if Tyrdie was being outclassed and just doing nothing effective?

First, there were three rounds to go. Second, I see no reason whatsoever not to believe Vitali when he says the pain had gotten overwehlming.

Ok, mate, we'll have to agree to differ.

There are plenty who agree with your opinion and plenty who disagree.

No new evidence has been presented during any of the related threads so I guess no one is about to change their stance and we are just restating our own views ad nauseum.

I'll take 'chico' as the North American version of 'mate'.

Buddy, as we say over here...

barry wrote:>>>If you had at leas the slightest clue about the things you're talking about. Vitali underwent four hours of surgery after the fight.<<<

You see you know not a damn thing about the injury other than the fact that Vitali said that is was brutally painful, which that is pure bullshit...you don't know if it hurts...you don't know that after while the shoulder actually goes numb and you also do not know that with that kind of injury it doesn't hurt to move around...it hurts when the shoulder is moved, but it's nothing that should make a supposed top-flight heavyweight quit...not the FACT of the situation are as Collins pointed out...Vitali realized that Byrd was landing more and more head shot which has visibly began to rock Vitali, so what does he do...he quits instead of being knocked out!!!

This is BS. Not every torn rotator cuff is alike. How severe it is depends on how many tendons are affected and how badly they are damaged. Most torn rotor cuffs do NOT require surgery, but some badly damaged, acute ones -- like Vitali's, who had a four-hour surgery.

If your docs allowed you to play on your injury cannot have been remotely what Vitali's was.

barry wrote:>>>What would you know about it<<<

What do I know about it...I had the exact same injury when I was around 13, yet I continued to pitch for two years without any repair surgery...in fact I never had anything done to it because I would have had to quit baseball forever if I would have gotten the surgery, so during the years 13 thru 16 I pitched with the exact same injury that Vitali had and the only difference is that it is a hell of a lot more difficult to throw six, seven and eight consecutive innnings every five, or six days. Oh it hurt like hell at times, but I never quit because of it!

And for the record...itr sure looks like the majority here are of sound mind and see Vitali's career for what it was and also see the Byrd-Vitali fight for what it truly was...not the fantasy-land tale where Vitali never quit and never lost a fight! Majority rules, infact I have only seen two people making the ridiculous claims about Vitali not quitting and not losing...two of you...where is the rest?

You must have had a little tear otherwise you would have been able to brush your teeth let alone pitch... Vitali had a bad tear that required hours of surgery... big difference!...

Anyone who knows anything about this injury knows that its severity can be in far different degrees from having just a small tear and a twinge now and then to having a very severe tear where you would be unable to lift the arm up and would be in absolute agony...

My docs didn't allow me to play...they told me that I needed surgery and that I wouldn't play, so I took it upon myself to play instead of quitting and getting the surgery...hell I've got some newspaper clippings of games where I struck out 13 in one game and 17 in another. My torn rotator was about as bad as it gets and this was in the earlier to middle 1980s, back when there were no super-rotator-cuff, middle-lower arm tendon/ligament specialists like they had when Vitali got the injury...all I had was just the regular bone specialist!

>>>and a twinge now and then to having a very severe tear where you would be unable to lift the arm up and would be in absolute agony..<<<

And Vitali's was not the worst as he moves his arms pretty well all through, even after the bout!

>>>You must have had a little tear otherwise you would have been able to brush your teeth let alone pitch...<<<

There were nights that I cried...there were nights that it hurt like hell, but I still did not quit even at that early age!

Hell, when I was an adolescent I was so scared of needles that I use to let the denist fill my teeth with out any kind of novacaine...actually I would not let him give me shot as I was petrified of needles, but someone I managed to deal with that sickening drill without any kind of numbing!