Vitali Klitschko vs. D. Jones, J Young and M Spinks

Young would be a tough technician but I favor Vitali by a decision, could be closer. Spinks and Doug Jones would get stopped by the 8th rd because he may exchange, Spinks would get broken down as well.

Vitali dominated Byrd but had some issues reaching and obtained an injury, he dominated but was not a blow out...Byrd survived the early rds. IMO Young was better than Byrd at what they do. I still see Vitali being victorious over all

 

He decisions all of them, maybe a close or disputable decision or two in there.

 

I think it's fair to say that Ali and Holmes weren't at their best against the 3 named opponents. the Ali of say Williams or Foley would've had a much easier time with Jones and Young and the Holmes of Shavers I and Ali would've handled Spinks as well. That being said Vitali wouldn't...or shouldn't have much trouble with them either....Well maybe Young would be a pain in the a--. he's trouble for just about anyone at his best.

 

Mendoza

I find the inclusion of Jones most odd as Ali was 21 years old and had been fighting as a pro about 2 and 1/2 years at this point.

On another thread you argued that Vitali had to be given a three year pass before he was expected to meet top competition, even though Vitali was much more mature than Ali having started his pro career at 25.

As for Young and Spinks, I see them at about the same level as Byrd and in the real world Vitali lost to Byrd.

 

In the real world Byrd got the W,


with a giant asterisk beside it.

 

Did you mean the actual Klitschko that faced Derek, or a healthy version at that same stage of his career ?


Dan Rafeal wrote:

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And any claims of historical greatness for Vitali have the same GIANT ASTERISK beside it.

Losing is a weak claim for greatness.

 

Prime Vitali would probably have dispatched all three of these guys without difficulty.

But so would prime Ali , who fought one of them very early, (and despite what many seem to believe, beat him clearly,) and one of them well past Ali's prime.

And prime Holmes would have little trouble with any of them when he was prime.

I'm not sure what your point is here, Mendoza.

If it's to show that ATGs 'struggled' with guys that we would expect Vitali to beat easily, you need to consider the context, especially the stage of the careers.

Vitali would undoubtedly be favoured over Berbick, but so what.

I'm a fan of Vitali and rank him around 20 all-time (much higher h2h), but comparisons like the one implicit in this thread might (rightly) incur scorn/amusement/puzzlement/consternation, and lead some to believe that you might just maybe hold Klitschko in slightly too high a measure of esteem.

 

Re: Vitali's historical greatness, see my response to Mendoza. (above)

 

I don't think the Vitali of Chisora was as far gone as the 'Jimmy Young' version of Ali.

But I also think that an asterisk, akin to the one I mentioned to Ed, needs to be put beside the Chisora bout if we are to use it as any kind of a measuring stick for Vitali's capabilities at that stage.

That said, I have problems with the whole premise of the thread, if I'm reading Mendoza correctly.