Ike Ibeabuchi VS Vitali Klitschko

[Westside Villain]

Discuss please...

[Goodnight, Irene]

Theyre the two most over-rated Heavies of the past half-century.

[Trent]

who over rates Vitali?

[baulks]

Ike who?

Ibeabuchi would have pressured Klitschko like no other fighter has managed to do. He always came forward and was aggressive from rounds 1 to 12. But, Vitali can fight going backwards as he proved in the Sanders fight. It's a tough one to call, Ike could suck up punishment all night the Tua fight proved that. I think Vitali would take a split decision. It would be very close.

[Goodnight, Irene]

who over rates Vitali?

A lot of folkes, in my experience.

[gilgamesh]

If anything GI people like you severely underrate Vitali Klitschko. Most people on this forum seem to think both Klitschko's would lose to basically every solid Heavyweight of the past 80 or 90 years that's not in their own era which is kinda ridiculous. But to answer the question asked here I think Vitali beats Ibeabuchi by TKO in the 11th round.

[LeedsLad]

who over rates Vitali?

Many people do.

He's a very good heavyweight, but nowhere near the Godzilla-like creature that many make him out to be.

He's awkward, got a good chin and is easily better than the crop of American HW's that are currently going around..... but we'll never know how good he actually is/was (seen as he's seen better days) because he was born ten years too late.

Put him in the 1990's with Holyfield, Tyson, Bowe, Lewis etc, and even the ''tier 2'' guys like Ruddock, McCall, Morrison, Bruno, Mercer - it's not beyond the realms of possibility to assume he'd lose to all of those.

[JDC]

Klitschko via death

[Goodnight, Irene]

If anything GI people like you severely underrate Vitali Klitschko. Most people on this forum seem to think both Klitschko's would lose to basically every solid Heavyweight of the past 80 or 90 years that's not in their own era which is kinda ridiculous. But to answer the question asked here I think Vitali beats Ibeabuchi by TKO in the 11th round.

Hes sh!t.

Theres a modicum of talent in Wlad. Vitali is every inch a modern-day Willard.

[keithmoonhangover]

If anything GI people like you severely underrate Vitali Klitschko. Most people on this forum seem to think both Klitschko's would lose to basically every solid Heavyweight of the past 80 or 90 years that's not in their own era which is kinda ridiculous. But to answer the question asked here I think Vitali beats Ibeabuchi by TKO in the 11th round.

Hes sh!t.

Theres a modicum of talent in Wlad. Vitali is every inch a modern-day Willard.

Stop it Irene, you're making a fool of yourself. Willard was there for the taking and that's why Dempsey bet on winning in the first round. Vitali Klitschko has never 'been there for the taking' and how many of his opponents would bet on themselves to win in the first round.

If Vitali was a Willard, then Lewis would have mopped the floor with him.

[SAPFO]

FFS, Vitali is head and shoulders above another other current HW not named Klitchko, and gave Lewis a run for his money early on in the fight, and but not for injuries may very well be undefeated to this day. Vitali measures up against any HW in history in a fair fight IMO.

Ibeabuchi KO's Wlad of old, not so sure of the new Wlad until we see him re-tested in a competitive fight.

[Yes We Can]

Ike would get caught coming in on a regular basis would struggle to catch Vitali, and would land very little of note before losing a lopsided decision say 118 - 110.

Vitali is more awkward than he is good. If he carried any worthwhile power he would have gotten Lewis outta there when they fought, he doesn't and he didn't and got punished for it.

[Goodnight, Irene]

FFS, Vitali is head and shoulders above another other current HW not named Klitchko, and gave Lewis a run for his money early on in the fight, and but not for injuries may very well be undefeated to this day. Vitali measures up against any HW in history in a fair fight IMO.

Ibeabuchi KO's Wlad of old, not so sure of the new Wlad until we see him re-tested in a competitive fight.

Just a quick sidebar --- how many other Heavies who have fought Vitalis disgusting level of competition would you say measures up to any HW ever based on competitively losing to his only quality rival?

"...but for injuries sustained..." LMAO --- You mean the ones he sustained from getting his head punched in? Yes, maybe...and if only Liston couldve landed against Ali, and Frazier were invulnerable to Foremans power, and so on. LOL.

Please clarify, "fair fight?"

[gilgamesh]

Am I saying Vitali is the greatest Heavyweight of all time? No. And yes of course I'm aware that the current era of Heavyweight contenders is trash. Larry Holmes was also a dominant champion in a weak era, Rocky Marciano's greatest rivals at Heavyweight were all former Light Heavyweight greats, but that doesn't cut back on the respect given to those former champions...and it shouldn't. Vitali and Wladimir are dominant champions in THEIR time, they can't help if the challengers are weak. Vitali has never been behind in a fight for God's sake, he thoroughly dominates pretty much everyone he fights. To compare him to a fighter like Jess Willard is just plain stupid.

[BoxBuzz]

Yep, part of what makes Ali so obviously great is that he HAPPENED to have excellent competition. So we give him credit since he was tested. For those who have not been tested...Marciano and The K's...for example, we simply have to guess if their "heart" would help them transcend their manifestly demonstrated skills to this point.

That's where you find out just how "great" a "great" is. Joe had Ali available to prove himself beyond a doubt, and Ali had quite a list to make his case unquestionable.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Am I saying Vitali is the greatest Heavyweight of all time? No. And yes of course I'm aware that the current era of Heavyweight contenders is trash. Larry Holmes was also a dominant champion in a weak era, Rocky Marciano's greatest rivals at Heavyweight were all former Light Heavyweight greats, but that doesn't cut back on the respect given to those former champions...and it shouldn't. Vitali and Wladimir are dominant champions in THEIR time, they can't help if the challengers are weak. Vitali has never been behind in a fight for God's sake, he thoroughly dominates pretty much everyone he fights. To compare him to a fighter like Jess Willard is just plain stupid.

It also doesnt mean you ascribe greatness to them for dominating SWEET FUK ALL. Especially if theyre forty years old and still throw arm punches

[SAPFO]

Lewis may not have been a GOAT, but was certainly great, and he was beating him. The shoulder was not due to beating beaten. We can get techinical here, so Lewis beat him via cut. But if we are talking boxing, then Vitlai was winning that fight. Your right though, a cuts stoppage is a win.

[dempseyfire]

Vitali is a very good fighter, better than his brother, and I think compares very favorably with Willard, who is a very under-rated fighter.

That said, Vitali looks tremondous vs the crap he feasts on today (and sorry, Adamek had accolades as a HW he didn't come close to deserving coming into the Klitschko fight) but vs the two best guys he ever fought, Byrd and Lewis, he looked much more human and beatable, and was beaten in both, injuries or not (Byrd gave him issues throughout their fight . . . he was having much more success with Vitali than he ever did with Wlad)

That says a lot. To compare the K brothers comp with that of Holmes or Marciano is laughable. Marciano actually beat several great fighters, several near their best (Walcott and Moore) . .hell Roland LaStarza would box the crap out of your Chagaevs, Povetkins and David Hayes.

As for Larry, if he'd only fought the Evangelistas, LeDouxs, Zanon, Rodriguez and Beys and not the Witherspoons, Nortons, Shavers, and Berbicks, then you'd have a point.

[Goodnight, Irene]

[quote="dempseyfire"Vitali is a very good fighter, better than his brother, and I think compares very favorably with Willard, who is a very under-rated fighter.

That said, Vitali looks tremondous vs the crap he feasts on today (and sorry, Adamek had accolades as a HW he didn't come close to deserving coming into the Klitschko fight) but vs the two best guys he ever fought, Byrd and Lewis, he looked much more human and beatable, and was beaten in both, injuries or not (Byrd gave him issues throughout their fight . . . he was having much more success with Vitali than he ever did with Wlad)

That says a lot. To compare the K brothers comp with that of Holmes or Marciano is laughable. Marciano actually beat several great fighters, several near their best (Walcott and Moore) . .hell Roland LaStarza would box the crap out of your Chagaevs, Povetkins and David Hayes.

As for Larry, if he'd only fought the Evangelistas, LeDouxs, Zanon, Rodriguez and Beys and not the Witherspoons, Nortons, Shavers, and Berbicks, then you'd have a point.[/quote]

Agree with the rest, but cannot accept either of the highlighted notions.

[dempseyfire]

Come on Goodnight, the guy has never been soundly beaten and effortlessly dominated mostly very weak comp but to a scale that is almost laughable, and he isn't a very good fighter?? Why hasn't he followed the paths of Mount Whitaker and Jameel McCline if he was just a big oaf??

One can't deny he has a great fighting acumen and judge of distance, timing and pacing. Of all of the post-Lewis HWs, he is the one I could see giving some greats some major issues. He's not a weak-jawed, no balls front-runner like his little brother. I've talked to several guys who've sparred both Klitschkos and they all say the same thing. Wlad is more talented physically but can't take a punch nor fight backing up . . whereas Vitali is much more durable and can fighting going backwards or forwards, a much more natural fighter, hell Wlad has admitted it himself.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Watching Vitali struggle mightily to land anything on Kevin Johnson laying on the ropes convinced me that Jimmy Young would wipe the floor with him. That isn't shameful, but I think it says a lot about where he stands at the all time level.

And NOBODY in history has garnered more praise from a definitive and clean loss than he has. There are thousands of fights where a guy was "winning" before he got stopped. I put winning in quotations because, well.....

[Goodnight, Irene]

Thank God for your post Saad. His entire career is winning three or four rounds from Lennox Lewis.

Pathetic how much mileage he gains from it.

[JDC]

Cuts stoppages always suck. I don't see the loss to Lewis as his defining moment. Vitali was in his physical prime against Lewis, but he has become a much better boxer afterwards. He learned his lessons and came back a champion. He did become boring in the process of technical improvement, but the post Lewis Vitali is where his legacy is at.

[dempseyfire]

I'm not calling him an all-time great and think he gets beaten by the majority of past HW greats (a 38 year old completly out of shape Sanders managed to give Vitali issues and hurt him a few times when he managed to gain the wind to throw punches) but the guy is a very good fighter and tough to beat.

At 39 he didn't look great vs a guy (Johnson) there just trying to survive for 12 rounds . . come on that's not a huge black mark on any career. The guy is tough . . awkward looking does not equate to un-skilled. The guy has been fighting in one form or the other since he was a little kid and excelled at all levels, and it shows.

[Goodnight, Irene]

The fight with a mummified Briggs was one of the saddest indictments on Vitalis completely ineffectual punching, maybe THE saddest, in all the robots mediocre career.

It wouldve been funny were it not so boring.