Vitali Klitschko vs Evander Holyfield

Close enough for them to have robbed Fury if they wanted to.

 

It's perfectly reasonable for someone to pick Vitali to beat Holyfield.It's not reasonable to suggest Vitali has a better resume.

 

would have been worse than Lewis-Holyfield I

 

That is exactly what I have been saying all along.One posted backtracked on that so I can respect.The other poster Mendoza which seems to have a problem with reality still firmly maintains.

 

@Mendoza waiting on an answer. Remember you like to call posters out and request they don't pull ducks. . Looks like you are the duck artist

 

Klitschkos people had an extra canvas laid to slow Fury's legs.

 

I think they were talking about the judges

 

Other comments not allowed or do they have to be run past you first?

 

This content is protected

 

I keep dogs.

 

I definitely agree Holyfield fought better opposition. It's obvious. It just seems an awful amount of energy is going into devaluing him. He can't fight every top contender because his brother will be fighting the other half of the top contenders. Here you have an instance of him offering a top 3 HW a title fight and being turned down. So he's not ducking anyone. Gomez, Sanders, Kirk Johnson were all top contenders posing difficult challenges and Vitali was dominant against them. Danny Williams had just beat Tyson and Arreola was an undefeated top 10 prospect.

As for Haye stopping Chisora and Vitali not. Haye is more of powerpuncher than at least this version of Vitali for sure. That doesn't have an influence on the match up, anymore than Pacquaio blowing away opponents that went the distace with Mayweather.

We're going off on a bit of tangent but I'd think I'd pick Vitali given Haye's inability to come forward against Wlad. Haye wants to lure a powerpunch or a potshot and the feints, jab and timing of Wlad and probably Vitali wouldn't allow it.

 

A good half of Vitali's challengers were not Ring ranked lets not pretend he was willing to fight everyone,he wasnt. The conditions for title fights chances in some cases meant committing yourself to one or two fights under the K2 promotional banner against opponents of their choice.
No prizes for guessing who those opponents would have been.
Danny Wiliams beat a totally washed up version of Tyson and he wasn't ranked, it was a farcical defence,Sosnowski was also a joke fight.
During Vitali's fragmented alphabet reigns he fought the following Ring unranked men in defences.
Mahone
Sullivan
Bean
K Johnson
Williams
Sosnowski
Chisora
Purrity
Thats a crap title resume,on a par with Wilder's

 

I think one fair speculation would be that it was a money grab on Vitali's part, in light of the division being so shallow and with a brother, who could draw away and take on any opponent considered to be showing 'signs of life'. It really doesn't look like Vitali came back for the sake of his legacy.

Whatever the motivation, his record has to be viewed for what it is and not blown out of proportion by his fans who, if we're being honest, are the ones who lost out on what could have been a better run, by their guy.

 

I just rewatched it and I think it's still a great win for Danny Williams against Tyson. Danny took a load of punishment that would see most heavyweights wilt. I question if around this time Wlad, Ruiz, Byrd and Golota could withstand Tyson's attack in the same way Williams did. And he fought Tyson inside and eventually got the better of him and the finish was brilliant.

I only have the annual rankings but surely Williams must have been ranked between the period of beating top 10 ranked Tyson and facing Vitali. Given Tyson was top 10 before. Williams was a good domestic champion who got robbed imo against Sprott in the fight before Tyson.

As for Vitali ducking or avoiding anyone. I just don't see any evidence of it.

 

Williams was barely Euro level Sam stopped him quite comfortably Sprott was a career journeyman,Williams lost to him 3 fights before facing Tyson.
So all these then ranked guys Vitali didnt fight avoided him?
Valuev
Ibragimov
Tua
Povetkin
Haye
Oquendo
Maskaev
Dimitrenko
Boytsov
Stiverne
Holyfield
Tyson
Barrett
Helenius
Pulev
Ruiz
McCline
Chagaev
Fury
Thompson
Chambers


ps I forgot another Ring unranked challenger Vitali defended against, Charr.