Vitali V Tom Sharkey?

Bingo...

And I wonder if Vitali ever fully recovered from his shoulder injuries, which may also have had a bearing on his ability to finish guys as well.

 

You are correct. Vitali, even in his prime, is more an attrition stopper than a one punch, or one combination, KO artist. He is definitely a KO Artist, by definition, because he stops so many, but no, it's not in the fashion of Joe Louis.

And it should be noted, in his style, he probably inflicts more punishment on his victims than if he just dispatched them in a few rounds.

 

Any 16 stone+ bloke that needs to hit you that many times is not a big puncher IMO.

Especially when you factor in just how bad Vitali's opposition has been. He hit the out-of-shape Lennox that Rahman dispatched of, and whilst he had him wobbling, couldn't floor him.

In his so-called physical prime.

 

This is very true, although I still think the guy can crack.. Otherwise, if "an accumulation of shots" was all there was to it, then Hector Camacho would have one of the highest win/ko percentages of all time.

 

This.

Vitali's power has declined with age, but he hits solidly nonetheless. Not a monster puncher, but a solid one.

 

He's massive and has a lot of weight behind his shots. Camacho isn't a valid comparison at all, and his stoppage of Limon shows when he put his shots together his blazing speed could get tough opposition put of there.

Vitali lumps fighters for rounds and rounds. Foreman was not a snappy hitter, but the effects of his punches were pretty much instantaneous.

He had Adamek down with an accurate power shot. Took rounds until he forced a stoppage. Peter and Briggs also took one-sided shellackings from him.

 

If you study Vitali's career you can see he modified his style to compensate for his injuries ... he is a hard puncher but in his comeback he is not the hitter he was in his prime ... neither version was on the level of Lennox or Wlad but he could still put a hurt on a guy ...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyN-x9LN0kU[/ame]

 

Briggs and Lewis were much younger in 1998 and Lewis was peaked.... Briggs fought Lewis on nervous energy and was tight / tense, making him easy to drop / stop after he gased a bit....

The Briggs of 2010 was a buffed but slow 265 pounds who learned how to relax....

Briggs has a good chin and a heart of gold... Yes, his overall talent is questionable, but he's tuff as nails...

Only "Wilson of '96 and Lewis of '98" were able to park Briggs like a Cadillac... Briggs was green in 1996 and scared shitless in 1998....

MR.BILLbbb:hat