BoxRec

He had recorded 45 wins, with 41 KO's!

Which was his best and/or defining win?

What was his best KO win?

Some names that he has fought include:
Herbie Hide
Corrie Sanders
Danny Williams
Samuel Peter
Chris Arreola
Kevin Johnson
Shannon Briggs
Tomasz Adamek
Dereck Chisora

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Another question..

Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?

From the list above, this would include:
Chris Byrd
Lennox Lewis

I'll start off with my answers..

Which was his best and/or defining win?
This would have to be Corrie Sanders.. Mad power, quite quick, coming off ko of wlad. Not properly conditioned though.

Another name would be Samuel Peter.. Comeback after a long lay off.. dominated.. Peter was a champion so he wasn't too shot at that point.. although the first Wlad fight took a lot out of him

Herbie Hide wasn't bad, Vitali had to come to the UK to win his first world title.

What was his best KO win?
Kirk Johnson?
Albert Sosnowski was a good one

Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?
Lennox Lewis.. No question!


This thread made me realize how thin his resume really is..

Had he fought David Haye, it would have made his resume much sweeter.

His best opponents are Byrd and Lewis, both of whom stopped him. Lewis would have KOd him had the fight continued.

His list of wins are lamentable. It has to be his 2004 stoppage of Corrie Sanders, the tubby 39 year old 90s fringe contender, who was coming off a mere 13 months inactivity.

Which pretty much sums up his career. 0-2 in fights that had any relevance. All his supporters can do is point out WBS titles, WBS title defenses etc. Cue the usual suspects. When it actually comes yo wins over quality opponents, the cupboard is bare.

"But he has a 92% knockout ratio!!!!!!111"

It true he was never losing on any scorecards in his professional career?

Ruthless-RKO wrote:It true he was never losing on any scorecards in his professional career?

Smoke and mirrors statistic. The list of heavyweights who would never be behind on points versus Vitali's 47 opponents is a very long one.

I do believe upon his return, Wlad fought the better bunch of fighters compared to Vitali.

There's no disputing the quality of his CV.
It's dreadful

But how good was he?
Some reckon better than Wlad, some reckon he beats Wlad.

How would you rate his chances of beating Haye, Povetkin, Pulev & Fury.

A mid-30's Vitali beats them all and doesn't think twice about letting his hands go vs Fury

Not sure whether the Hide fight was Vitali's signature win..... Herbie was a talented but also hugely vulnerbale champion in terms of size, personal discipline and the WBO heavyweight belt was hardly the top prize in the late 90s with the great big men tussling for that particular crown.

However, as a way of arriving on the world scene it was still a hugely impressive display and proof that he could fight outside Germany/Ukraine.

Herbie - somewhat typically, got things wrong in terms of appreciating/preparing for what was actually coming his way and then ignored the strategy of utilising his superb speed or showing any patience when the bell rang.

But neither was Vitali the entire sum of Hide's shortcomings.

He was sharp, aggressive and clinical that night and surprised Hide by not being the lumbering giant he was widely billed as.
Watching the fight back.... and the big, hugely unwelcome surprise for Hide is that Vitali is often right there and in a range.

Bodyshot3 wrote:Not sure whether the Hide fight was Vitali's signature win..... Herbie was a talented but also hugely vulnerbale champion in terms of size, personal discipline and the WBO heavyweight belt was hardly the top prize in the late 90s with the great big men tussling for that particular crown.

However, as a way of arriving on the world scene it was still a hugely impressive display and proof that he could fight outside Germany/Ukraine.

Herbie - somewhat typically, got things wrong in terms of appreciating/preparing for what was actually coming his way and then ignored the strategy of utilising his superb speed or showing any patience when the bell rang.

But neither was Vitali the entire sum of Hide's shortcomings.

He was sharp, aggressive and clinical that night and surprised Hide by not being the lumbering giant he was widely billed as.
Watching the fight back.... and the big, hugely unwelcome surprise for Hide is that Vitali is often right there and in a range.

Klitschko was always going to be too much for Herbie. He had some skill, power and movement but he was the classic school bully, anytime he got hit back he lost. But the fact that Klitschko swamped him so quickly did mark Vitali as someone to watch, even if the belt was of the paper variety.

Tuan_Jim wrote:

Ruthless-RKO wrote:It true he was never losing on any scorecards in his professional career?

Smoke and mirrors statistic. The list of heavyweights who would never be behind on points versus Vitali's 47 opponents is a very long one.

I think you mean a very short list... Possibly consisting of 1 or 2 other names.

Anthony Joshua for sure, and possibly Larry Holmes.. Holmes could possibly outpoint Lewis, but it would be tough.. Holmes was behind Michael Spinks twice -- and behind Tyson when he was only 38.. He was a great boxer in his prime who might outpoint about anybody but Lewis, Vitali, and Joshua.

Lewis cannot fight himself so he's not on the list.. And Lewis was behind to Oliver McCall after their 2 rounds because of the knockdown anyway.. Holyfield and Tyson were both well behind Lennox Lewis.. Marciano would have lost Lewis for certain.. So would Ali.. Tunney was too small to beat Lewis.. Johnson was a very great boxer, but Lewis's size and strength would make him an extremely difficult opponent for Johnson to outpoint.. As far as being out-scored -- it's a very rare Heavyweight who's going to out-point Vitali ... Wladimir could never do it for certain.

davie wrote:There's no disputing the quality of his CV.
It's dreadful

But how good was he?
Some reckon better than Wlad, some reckon he beats Wlad.

How would you rate his chances of beating Haye, Povetkin, Pulev & Fury.

A mid-30's Vitali beats them all and doesn't think twice about letting his hands go vs Fury

It's too early to judge but I think if Fury could stand up to Vitali and outlast him.

Tuan_Jim wrote:His best opponents are Byrd and Lewis, both of whom stopped him. Lewis would have KOd him had the fight continued.

His list of wins are lamentable. It has to be his 2004 stoppage of Corrie Sanders, the tubby 39 year old 90s fringe contender, who was coming off a mere 13 months inactivity.

Agreed, his resume is absolutely laughable. He'll soon take gatti off the hook for the least deserving fighter in the hof. You could make a case for vitali outside the top 100 heavyweights.

The Wlad vs Vitali greatness debate is a classic example of why you cannot completely make a decision on the names beaten, as vitalis cv of wins is dreadful, Wlad has a clear edge in that dept

However for me Vitali is the better of the 2 brothers. The difference mainly being toughness to get the job done

His fight vs Lewis despite defeat is one where he finishes the fight in a stronger standing than what he started. And the performance in defeat is better than any win he achieved

The only fight before tomorrow I picked Wlad to lose was Haye. That's why my pics mean squat for evaluating fighters. Wlad is significantly better than Vitali. Skillwise he's better at everything but toughness. Much bigger puncher.

He was keen to fight David Haye - until he watched Haye nuke Chisora. He backed off pretty sharpish after that, quietly retired.

His best win was 2-Division World Champion Tomasz Adamek, who was 6'2" X 216 and had a 44-1 record.

Adamek was a slick boxer who beat Michael Grant in his previous fight to earn a World Title shot.. Vitali was 40-years-old and everybody said he was getting past it and slowing up.. He won every round and was the first fighter to stop the much younger Adamek -- who couldn't lay a glove on him.. Many years earlier, following his KO of Danny Williams, he took 4 years off to rehab his legs.. They always game him a ton of problems because he hurt them badly in Kickboxing -- and he said that was the best thing he ever did.

His bad legs would lead to constant back problems and other injuries.. He thought he would never box again.. He ran for President of the Ukraine and if he won "You would never have seen me in the ring again" but he lost.. New therapies started helping his legs and he decided to come back.. He was able to finally improve his movement somewhat.. He took no warm up fights after 4 years away from Boxing, but beat Sam Peter for the WBC World Heavyweight Title.. Peter was 30-1 and had only lost to his brother Wladimi while knocking Wlad down 3 X.. Vitali was never knocked down in his career.. He owned Peter who couldn't hit him.. So I think the Peter and Adamek fights were his best.

Other great fights of Vitali's were Corrie Sanders, Larry Donald, Kirk Johnson, Lennox Lewis, Danny Williams who had just stopped Mike Tyson, Chris Arreola who was 28-0...Herbie Hide which was his 25th straight KO and his first Heavyweight Championship of 3.. VK was never out-boxed in any of his fights and gave up 4 of his prime years.. He's one of the more underrated Heavyweight Champions.

He's easily the most overrated, but nobody expects much from you.

Lol at Danny Williams who had just ko Tyson

Youre technically right with the statement, but anyone with half a brain can work this one out!

Williams= British level, throughout his career

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:He's easily the most overrated, but nobody expects much from you.

Nobody expects anything from you but biased hatred. He's the most underrated Heavyweight Champion. 3 X Heavyweight Champion and never out-boxed.

Ossyrules wrote:Lol at Danny Williams who had just ko Tyson

Youre technically right with the statement, but anyone with half a brain can work this one out!

Williams= British level, throughout his career

Except Tyson and Klitschko were World Level fights.

Kalan wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:Lol at Danny Williams who had just ko Tyson

Youre technically right with the statement, but anyone with half a brain can work this one out!

Williams= British level, throughout his career

Except Tyson and Klitschko were World Level fights.

Vitali vs Williams = world level vs British level. And boy did it show

Tyson vs Williams = washed up ex world level vs British level

Danny Williams will never be a good win for a world level operator

After that Vitali ran from Rahman. Right Kalan?

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:After that Vitali ran from Rahman. Right Kalan?

I can't believe Boxbuzz is continuing with this charade. Someone needs to take his keyboard from him. Can John Shep stage an intervention?