This is always the major conundrum for me. hypothetically I see vitali giving the top guys today hell, Ruiz, whyte, povetkin etc wouldn’t lay a glove, wilder would get wrecked , fury and aj would be amazing fights. But he never got the chance to properly prove it wlad I think always has a nightmare with fury and aj. The others mentioned he would spoil etc, or lose
Fury easily beats the arm punching Klitschko brother He dismantled the superior brother in dominant fashion and vitalis lean back defence wouldn't work against Fury he'd lean back and still get hit, if he comes forward the 6'7" 247lb vitali will get mauled by the 6'9" 280lb Fury Notice vitali was very respectful to Fury in the wlad fight, he knew what was up
I know and once again it’s hard to refute the point because of vitalis lack of depth on his resume. I just think it would be harder for fury than wlad because - vitali if he was losing would go after fury unlike wlad - has faith in his chin - punches from weird angles and not textbook, making it harder to defend against - seems to adjust to a fighter, whereas wlad stuck by his method no matter what but like you said, fury beat the more accomplished brother so it’s all bluster on my part
Probably, but I'd say mainly because of chin and stamina. I think Haye would land on Vitali and cause him some trouble because Haye was a fast counterpuncher with power. Sanders rocked Vitali a couple of times with his fast counters which suggests Haye might do the same. But Vitali ground Sanders down and would probably do the same to Haye. I'm not a Haye fan as such but people swing the other way on him a little too much because he's so obnoxious. He was dangerous, particularly with all the PEDs he likely took.
The problem with Haye at HW is he fought like a coward. There’s complete logic in sensibly avoiding mass engagement when fighting men 30/40 lbs heavier than you but you have to engage enough to win the fight. He never seemed interested. Tactics against Wlad were all wrong. Conscious of His own weak chin, Wlad rarely threw any shots on the counter, therefore you were always safest against him whilst attacking. Haye was so worried about getting KO’d in that fight he didn’t engage at all. He had the tools to make that a more competitive bout but tactics and self-confidence let him down. Also, in hindsight, Vitali at that time probably provided a better chance of him wining than Wlad did. I think him and Adam Booth simply looked at it as “Wlad’s chin is weaker, we can knock him out”. But they didn’t realise Vitali had slowed, his footwork was borderline glacial at that point and he didn’t carry the one punch concussive power or array of offensive tools that Wlad did. Regardless, Haye’s lack of confidence in his own ability to take a punch would have seen him prioritise avoiding getting hit, and seen him lose a boring decision just like he did to Wlad.
Of course. At the time of Wlad/Haye, I remember thinking Haye had a much better chance against Vitali than against Wladimir. Not sure if I still feel that way but Haye can't be viewed as having more than 10% chance in any hypothetical involving a Klitschko.
Fury fans should not say this because Fury's resume is very poor at this point, and what you said can be said about Fury as well
Haye was slippery and carried power, his rep defo took a hit from Bellew but he'd have wiped the floor with Bellew if unhindered by injury. Bellew stopping John Ruiz or Chisora is laughable.
I think his rep was boosted by his performances against Bellew whilst he was clearly injured. The fans respected his gutsy performances. It repaired the damage done to his rep by his toe excuse against Wlad.