Pele Reid begs to differ... Perhaps at best showing he lacked the mental capabilities of a true fighter, and at worse showed himself to have a bit of dog. There is no need for the (cuts), it was no headbutt, but punches that caused the referee to save Vitali. Vitali, like Vlad have yet to show the 'X Factor' that could lead to them being considered with the cream of the division. They have 'eventually' taken control of a very poor era. Also as non 'classic' fighters, they also have to accept they need to be that bit more special to show the sceptics they are for real.
4 such a huge fan of Vitali , it is a very bad sign when he still can not c him beating prime Ali and prime Holmes @ their own games . BTW , i m not a fan of "his" , and do not c him walking through Tubbs , nor stopping Smith or Tucker . But i do c him beating prime Ali / Clay and prime Holmes @ their own games . I guess he would have beaten Young .
I'd be curious how Frazier's chin holds up to prime Vitali's power. Vitali wouldn't beat Ali. If Cooper could put him down, Vitali could too- but then, so could Foreman. I reckon he loses on points in a fairly good fight where Ali takes some shots but his chin keeps him going Foreman- again, depends on his chin. I have Lewis KO'ing Foreman, so I suppose Vitali could too (in both cases there's enough of a disparity in boxing ability for me to believe Lewis/Vitali don't have difficulty landing bit shots) By the time he reaches a prime Holmes, Vitali would be past prime. I can't really see how the fight plays out but Holmes probably wins Assuming he hits the world stage around 1970, Vitali would be long retired by the time Tyson explodes onto the scene. Thankfully, because the current shot Vitali would get badly beaten by prime Tyson edit; Obviously I'm biased. I don't hate any of the fighters above (although I'm not really an Ali fan) but I like Vitali, and feel he had a good chance against any fighter who was a bit crude and relied a lot on power or size. Boxers are another story
Yeah Flea Man, do not judge him for yourself, look at the paper records. Everyone knows figures makes a fighter. What next Flea Man? You will be telling me Jimmy Young (34-19-2 (11)) was better than LaMar Clark (43-3 (42))... I guess when I went to Wembley in 1987, I was not disappointed that the Main Event (McKenzie/Chitalada) was callled off, and I had to watch Notice/Waters, when my Dad gave me the option to see Benn at The Royal Albert Hall. Because according to Boxrec, which 'doesn't lie'; Benn fought at Wembley that night...
I think Vitali would do well against some of the better boxers of the division but ulitmatley he would fall way short against the better fighters of those eras and even lose to some of the less decorated fighters. I dont think he would even win the title in either era.
I'm not a huge Vitali Klitschko fan... not sure why somebody would think that? I'm just giving my opinion. So he can beat Ali and Holmes but he's going to have trouble with Tubbs, Smith, and Tucker? This retrospect love for Young, Tubbs, Page, Tucker, and others is starting to get out of hand. These guys were hot and cold and had very few wins over top HWs. When they did beat a decent fighter it was usually very close or they struggled to get the win. Tucker got outboxed by Douglas before Douglas ran out of gas and got stopped in round 10. Who else did he beat? He decisioned a washed up Jimmy Young and a never was in James Broad. He was lucky to get the wins over Orlin Norris and Oliver McCall. he lost to Norris in a rematch. He clearly lost to Tyson and Lewis. He was dropped twice by Lewis. No shame in losing to these two but did he really even give them much trouble? No! Tucker really wasn't much. He didn't get knocked out by Tyson and Lewis... so what! Tubbs decisioned a washed up Young and won non dominating decisions over Bonecrusher Smith and Page. He lost a boring but close decision to Witherspoon. He decisioned Wimpy Halstead (tough and fun to watch but far from a top HW). He was stopped in the 2nd round by Tyson and was never in the fight. He gave an up and coming Bowe trouble and decisioned Bruce Seldon. He lost close decisions to Jimmy Thunder and Alexander Zolkin after getting stopped by Lionel Butler LKOby1 and Jimmy Ellis LKOby1 and before getting stopped in 4 by Brian Nielsen. Not so special was he? Smith? He was stopped by James Broad, Larry Holmes, Razor Ruddock, and 4 others. Vitali didn't have the "smash" but I think he had the right combination of skill, power, and durability to break Smith down.
Do not know how much trouble , but what disturbed me in your post was your supposition that he would have stopped them . but usually hypotetic h2h fights r meant prime vs prime , not prime vs shot/injured/old/heavily drugged / severely drained I could as well , match a shoulder injured Vitali against them and predict that every 1 of them would have stopped him . And no , it is not a try 2 diminish Byrd's win , as I st8ed b4 , I believe that Byrd made Vitali punch his own shoulder out . this is d myth . It was a competitive fight , and Tucker got d better of it eventually . Did u watch it ? Tucker managed what neither Tyson nor McCall managed against Douglas . Maybe somewhat lucky vs Norris , but did u watch him vs McCall ? how can i have it ? He did not get KOd by Akinwande either and he stopped Douglas , unlike Tyson and McCall . Notice that he was d older man by 7 years in all of these fights except 4 Tyson where he was older by 8 and Douglas , where he was "only" older by 2 years . Reverese d age differences and think how he does then ? Considering how he actually did . U took d bother 2 repeat d irrelevant parts of his record ? i know how 2do it myself , in fact , it took me time until i learned which parts 2 disregard , and which parts 2 regard . Smith's 1st loss 2 Holmes was due 2 cuts . He was old against Ruddock and very old against those "4 others" that stopped him (? , since i did not bother 2 check it now , but suppose that there were 4 others) Most of your post here was spot off .