BoxRec

now before everyone bites my head off for mentioning Vitali, i would like to have a good discussion about the pros and cons of him as a fighter and his career.
for me Vitalis career was a case of what could have been.if he had done the following things i think it would be fair to rank him somewere in the top 50 or maybe even 40.

1. Hang on for rest of the Chris Byrd fight and won a comftable UD

2. Rematch and defeat Lennox Lewis
even though Lennox would have been 38 years old, Vitali would not have been the first guy to get credit for beating a past prime fighter eg Marciano-Loius, Berbick, Holmes, Spinks over Ali ect. with rocky beating louis-it was still louis, and he was a top five fighter, but in this case Lennox was the no1 fighter so beating him would still have counted for something.

3. Beat Hasim Rahman

4. Beat Valuev and unify the WBC & WBA crowns

5. Beat james Tooney

but as we know none of the above happened, some of them were his fault some of them wernt, therfore as much as i liked him as a fighter it is hard for me to rank him highly on the all time standings.

As a fighter i think Vitali had all the tools to be a great, he was IMO a very skilled fighter as proven by him pretty much dominating Byrd untill he injured himself and also the way he gave Lennox Lewis hell, ecspecially in that second round.

he had a decent enough chin, he took some huge shots from sanders and also some pretty good ones from Lewis, though slightly wobbled he never went down.

His height was also a great thing for him for obvios reasons.

Vitali was also a VERY strong figter, from 35 victories he had 34 KO'S.

In his career he never tasted the canvas and im pretty sure he was never down on the scorecards either.

Best victories

Kirk Johnson
Danny Williams
Corey Sanders

i would like some honest opinions and debate about this post and what you think of him and his career and were he ranks in history....

Decagon wrote:1-2 against top-10 fighters. I would rank him over Ingemar Johansson and Jess Willard, though.

Yes I would rank him over those two. Maybe Buster Douglas, Primo Carnera and Marvin Hart as well (though I think the Buster that showed up to fight Tyson would have taken out Vitali too). Actually...nevermind about Carnera he did beat Paolino Uzcudun and Jack Sharkey which is far more than Vitali could ever say about the quality of his opponents. But I might rank Vitali above Buster Douglas and Marvin Hart.

Of course, If Buster Douglas had gone on to defeat Evander Holyfield, he would be considered one of the top heavyweights of all time too. A lot of things would be different "if" things happened differently...that's what happens when there's a different input...there's a different output as well.

iceman21287 wrote:

Decagon wrote:1-2 against top-10 fighters. I would rank him over Ingemar Johansson and Jess Willard, though.

Yes I would rank him over those two. Maybe Buster Douglas, Primo Carnera and Marvin Hart as well (though I think the Buster that showed up to fight Tyson would have taken out Vitali too). Actually...nevermind about Carnera he did beat Paolino Uzcudun and Jack Sharkey which is far more than Vitali could ever say about the quality of his opponents. But I might rank Vitali above Buster Douglas and Marvin Hart.

Of course, If Buster Douglas had gone on to defeat Evander Holyfield, he would be considered one of the top heavyweights of all time too. A lot of things would be different "if" things happened differently...that's what happens when there's a different input...there's a different output as well.

the night douglas beat tyson, i see him beating vitali

Decagon wrote:The night Buster lost to Tony Tucker, I see him beating Vitali. It'd be a race to see who'd quit first.

you have a point :P

thunderfromdownunder wrote:now before everyone bites my head off for mentioning Vitali, i would like to have a good discussion about the pros and cons of him as a fighter and his career.
for me Vitalis career was a case of what could have been.if he had done the following things i think it would be fair to rank him somewere in the top 50 or maybe even 40.

1. Hang on for rest of the Chris Byrd fight and won a comftable UD

2. Rematch and defeat Lennox Lewis
even though Lennox would have been 38 years old, Vitali would not have been the first guy to get credit for beating a past prime fighter eg Marciano-Loius, Berbick, Holmes, Spinks over Ali ect. with rocky beating louis-it was still louis, and he was a top five fighter, but in this case Lennox was the no1 fighter so beating him would still have counted for something.

3. Beat Hasim Rahman

4. Beat Valuev and unify the WBC & WBA crowns

5. Beat james Tooney

but as we know none of the above happened, some of them were his fault some of them wernt, therfore as much as i liked him as a fighter it is hard for me to rank him highly on the all time standings.

As a fighter i think Vitali had all the tools to be a great, he was IMO a very skilled fighter as proven by him pretty much dominating Byrd untill he injured himself and also the way he gave Lennox Lewis hell, ecspecially in that second round.

he had a decent enough chin, he took some huge shots from sanders and also some pretty good ones from Lewis, though slightly wobbled he never went down.

His height was also a great thing for him for obvios reasons.

Vitali was also a VERY strong figter, from 35 victories he had 34 KO'S.

In his career he never tasted the canvas and im pretty sure he was never down on the scorecards either.

Best victories

Kirk Johnson
Danny Williams
Corey Sanders

i would like some honest opinions and debate about this post and what you think of him and his career and were he ranks in history....

Based on your post Vitali would do OK in mythical head-to-head match-ups. Unfortunately what he actually did wasn't much.

Vitali's career high point: Lewis TKO6

Vitali summed his career up when he quit against Byrd! He never came back to erase that wimp-out and no way do I see him lasting against the tougher heavyweights...I might rank him ahead of some of the alphabet champions, but only a couple!

barry wrote:Vitali summed his career up when he quit against Byrd! He never came back to erase that wimp-out and no way do I see him lasting against the tougher heavyweights...I might rank him ahead of some of the alphabet champions, but only a couple!

Let’s be fair here Barry.

If boxing fans want to be honest, they would admit that ring legends such as Jack Johnson, Marcel Cerdan, Roberto Duran, Bob Foster, Mike Tyson, and numerous others quit. This is just a mere sample of men I choose to list that were real bad asses in their era. To quote Ali, most fighters quit, and can get up if they really want to. The list of those who choose to lie on the mat, or sit on their stool and let their cornerman stop the fight for them is too long to list.

Vitali did quit vs Byrd, but he was ahead on the cards by a wide margin vs a quality fighter. Even with a bad injury, Vitali was well in the lead. When we assume match ups, we should take fighters at their best. I have never seen a fantasy match up that says who would you pick between Ali and Liston if Ali tore his shoulder in round three.


I not sure where Vitali deserves to rate. No man every won more than two rounds against him. Vitali was never floored by a punch, proved his heart vs Lewis, and owns an extremely high knock out percentage.

A rematch with Byrd or Lewis would have cleared things up for us fans, but Byrd and Lewis avoided re-matches with Vitali as if he were the reincarnation of the bubonic plague.

Z?

pound per pound wrote:A rematch with Byrd or Lewis would have cleared things up for us fans, but Byrd and Lewis avoided re-matches with Vitali as if he were the reincarnation of the bubonic plague.

How old exactly was Lewis? He wasn't no spring chicken. Even old and overweight in the Vitali match, he was still able to pull out a TKO victory. With what... some say only 2 weeks preparation. And what about Vitali and Rahman? That was put-off on many separate occassions. Atleast Byrd and Lewis didn't hold the belt hostage for nearly an enitre year because of "injuries", a year that Rahman will never get back. And neither will any of us.

There's Corrie Sanders and Danny Williams, who aren't exactly the cream of the crop, and then a year of inactivity. In terms of actual achivement, excluding all the what-ifs and coulda-woulda-shoulda's of rabid fans which in reality have no merit anyways, (as much as it pains me to say it) John Ruiz had a much better run at being a heavyweight titlist than Vitali Klitschko. And that's by a LOT... That should sum it up about Vitali and his greatness.

Douglas beat a prime Tyson and was the UNDISPUTED champ. More then Klitschko could ever come close to saying. And Vitali did not dominate Byrd . . .it was a fairly close fight and although Klit was ahead the the time of the stoppage, he was tiring and Chris was able to back him up many times.

Best wins vs Johnson, Sanders, and Hide????

Carnera and Douglas's resumes are much more impressive.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:

Decagon wrote:The night Buster lost to Tony Tucker, I see him beating Vitali. It'd be a race to see who'd quit first.

you have a point :P

I would pick a peak Tony Tucker over Vitali.

More here.

http://www.boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16725

dempseyfire wrote:Douglas beat a prime Tyson and was the UNDISPUTED champ. More then Klitschko could ever come close to saying. And Vitali did not dominate Byrd . . .it was a fairly close fight and although Klit was ahead the the time of the stoppage, he was tiring and Chris was able to back him up many times.

Best wins vs Johnson, Sanders, and Hide????

Carnera and Douglas's resumes are much more impressive.

Wasn't Byrd a last minute replacement for Razor Ruddock?

Knew the Klits prefered to fight washed up 90's Heavies.

Seems Vitali was troubled by Heavies he couldn't outmuscle either with his height.

>>>>If boxing fans want to be honest, they would admit that ring legends such as Jack Johnson, Marcel Cerdan, Roberto Duran, Bob Foster, Mike Tyson, and numerous others quit.<<<

Vitali is not even on the same universe in comparision to those guys. Against weak opposition most solid heavyweights rarely lose a round either. Vitali was one of the most overated fighters of the last fifty years. He was a paper belt holder who quit in his biggest bout to date and he avoided a rematch with Chris Byrd like Byrd was ebola, I don't know why as I think he could have probably beaten Byrd in a rematch, but he was more content with facing the fighters who beat little brother. As far as his high KO percentage, well that is similar to Lamar Clark in that the numbers do not equal the power. He wore down opponents, but was never a big one-punch guy and he rarely took out anyone with one punch...though his brother has one punch KO power.

Vitali should probably go down as one of the biggest under-achievers ever as he had the ability, but lacked the toughness, which was shown not only by when he quit against Byrd, but more so by all of the cancelations of bouts because of various injuries that he suffered, and maybe suffered. He was not someone that was going to fight through any kind of pain. He probably could have been a very good heavyweight and with poor competition in the division he could have became champion, but he just didn't have the will, or heart to fight through adversity, except that one time against an old and out of shape Lewis.

Vitali Klitschko lost to Byrd and Lewis because of injuries. His size, ability to take a punch, and underrated though mechanical boxing ability made him a formidable fighter, the best of the post-Lewis era IMO. Id probably rank him top 30 of all time.

dr_devious wrote:Vitali Klitschko lost to Byrd and Lewis because of injuries.

Right, he was stopped, TKO'd, just like when Quarry lost to Ali because of injuries.

I'm not his biggest fan but he was a capable fighter who I hoped would restore some dignity to the division. It's never too easy to rate someone immediately after retirement. I think he's probably a little underrated on this board.