Wladimir vs Vitali - Who Wins the Battle of Brothers?

I have Vitaly by KO. If only they could be mashed together into one fighter…. Damn

 

Wlads skill set, athleticism, power, etc with Vitalys chin, fighting instincts and heart with Steward as a trainer hot damn

 

Ignoring Wlad beating:

#1 Byrd (06 rematch)
#2 Povetkin
#2 Pulev
#3 Chagaev (Ring annual is from March, so i used the 09 edition, as it was nearer the fight)
#3 Haye
#6 Ibragimov
#6 Jennings
#7 Brewster
#7 Brock
#8 Peter
#9 Thompson

He also beat a bunch of other people who were ranked within a few years, before or after him beating them. This is not a complete list, I just wanted to dig up good examples. All info is from BoxRec's "Ring Annual Ratings".

 

Great video.

Aside from athleticism, skills, power, health and trainer, Wlad had another important advantage: experience.

Arguably Vitali's best win was against Corrie Sanders: Vitali was just under 33 with 35 pro fights.

Arguably Wlad's best win was against David Haye: Wlad was just over 35 with 58 pro fights.

So in a hypothetical prime for prime matchup, in a sense Wlad would be the big brother.

I agree with your contention that up to 2004, Vitali wins but 2008 and on, Wlad wins.

 

Wlad had a much better resume but you can see from the poll it didn't really matter because they were mostly undersized and Wlad beat them using illegal octopus tactics.
Its obvious he's not going to be able to jump all over Vitali's back so right there he's denied a major advantage he held over other guys.

So how does he beat Vitali? He can't outslick him and he can't out fight him , so he doesn't , he probably loses. Lewis had to dig deep and drag Vitali into a fight but Wlad isn't prepared to go where Lewis went in order to win.

Also , there's a discrepancy in your rating list.

Brewster who had been out of the ring over a year wasn't ranked in the top 10. He entered the top 10 after he bombed out Wlad with left hooks to his body and head. He wasn't ranked in the top 10 for the rematch either.

 

I used Ring annual ratings for every fighter the year prior except for Chagaev, because for some reason the Ring ratings for that year weren’t from December, and it was from just before the fight. At least in December of the year prior he was #7.

 

Here is my controversial take.

I believe Vitali would smash Wladimir with not much difficulty.

People always say "Wladimir is the better and more skilled boxer but Vitali is the tougher man"

I actually believe Vitali was more skilled and tougher than his younger brother. His skills were incredibly subtle and underrated, his defense was so effective, he very rarely got hit clean and he was one of the best ever at the weight when it comes to controlling distance, he had a really underrated jab that was very difficult to stop and came from a really weird angle, he threw the one-two better than anyone, it was very very well disguised and very difficult to read consistently.

I believe Vitali would KO his younger brother between rds 8-10.

 

Totally agree, Vitali does the subtle things that are not easy to spot well. Much like how when Dubois fought Joyce many just saw Dubois' power and ramrod jab and how slow Joyce was but didn't notice Joyce moves better, moves his head and upper body more and his jab while not ramrod like Dubois' was far more versatile has he throws is to head and body and throws it in different ways for different reasons not just to set up a power punch but to disguise other punches, to control distance, to disrupt his opponents rhythm.

Wlad/Vitali is also very much like Dubois/Joyce. Wlad has the speed the power the better fundamentals, the obvious skills that any idiot fan can pick up on but Vitali does things that only more educated boxing fans can pick up on. Wlad has quicker feet but Vitali has better lateral movement, he's always circling unlike Wlad who tends to back up more in straight lines which is why when they both fought Peter, Wlad found himself on the ropes while Vitali kept the fight in the centre with his lateral movement.

Vitali also is a better counter puncher. Wlad uses his speed to beat opponents to the punch but doesn't counter as that would mean trading shots. Vitali in contrast makes his opponents pay for missing countering with left hooks and right hands. Vitali even utilises pull counters, abandoning his guard, dropping his hands and leaving himself open to draw leads he can counter. His defence is turned into offence due to his head movement and counter punching, something Wlad doesn't do, his answer to aggression is to either move away or smother while Vitali used his opponents aggression against them.

Overall Vitali was simply the more skilled boxer. Yes he's slower and not as powerful but the other skills he developed more than compensated for that and then you throw in his chin, size and work rate and you have what to me was clearly the superior boxer of the two.

 

Both in their prime I’m picking vitali. He was always happy to take 2-3 big shots in order to land a big one of his own and his brother is chinny as we all know.

vlad in his prime had a great jab/1-2 but I seem him struggling with vitalis size

vitali wins via ko round 6

 

Spot on man, glad I'm not he only one who is this much in favor of Vitali. Dubious vs Joyce is a very good comparison, thinking about it Wlad vs Vitali would genuinely look very similar but I believe it'd be even more dominant.

 

I used to think that It was a given Vitali would smash Wlad as a novice fan. Then I started leaning towards Wlad mainly because of his superior opposition from 2008 and onwards. But, the Fury fight made me chance my mind again

Vitali by decision, as I don’t think he had enough power and explosiveness to stop prime, educated Wlad but enough to put him in full safety mode and score a KD or two.

 

Wlad Due to cuts. Vitalis defence is poor against other big men. Plus he would have been more catious against Wlad Due to the double KO threats from each hand. Vitalis chin is overrated and Wlads is underrated.

 

Sanders knocked him down. Look at the fight. He was clearly down by Sanders.

 

Vitali takes this.

And it's pretty much over during the stare-down.

 

I favour Vitali to win.

Imagine if Wlad and Vitali did lock horns in real anger, i sure as hell would not fancy being the one to part them up.
Their normal styles may not have been most exciting, but with a angry fire in their belly and brotherly superiority on the line, that is going to be a lot of prime Ukranian beef going to war.

Afterwards Mama Klitschko would kick both their asses for disobeying her