For me, following the pattern of the fight, Vitali probably takes the 10th again and Byrd the 9th, which puts Vitali 6-5 up going into the final round. I mean fighting 6 rounds with an injured shoulder is brave in its own right but this isn't the best look for Vitali. Especially because he sent little brother in to win the belt back.
That being said, Vitali did dominate until he injured his shoulder, and he would almost certainly have beaten him in a rematch. So I'm basically how I was before rewatching. But still, fun fight.
I can't help it, it's a throwback to the days of the relentless debates on General Forum with K2 fans. And one of their things was always about Vitali being ahead on the cards, and I think the Hide fight is the only one he wasn't haha.
I largely agree with your assessment of your fight. I feel Vitali not being in the mainstream at that point and the fight being in Germany, the story became that Vitali had battered Byrd around the ring and only had to stop from the injury. It doesn't help that if you just look at the scorecards it shows a wide fight but imo (and yours) it was a close fight at the time Vitali retired from the fight. How did Vitali look against Bean and Donald?Both could make for tough nights.
You just watched all 9 rounds of the fight and didn't notice Vitali injuring his shoulder , would that claim be correct?
This is 2022, not 2012. You're looking for some big debate with a Klitschko fan, you won't find one here. How you not get bored of this ****?
Stop being such a little wet wipe. You watch 9 rounds of that fight and never saw Vitali suffer any injury. Call it like it is. You read he injured himself in round 3? Where. You didn't read that anywhere. Why lie? Have you nothing better to than lie about stuff? If Vitali didn't injury his shoulder he'd easily do this / he'd easily do that.. blah blah. You're just a sheep following the heard.
Round 3 . Low and behold. No mention of any injury. . Seems like something important to point out considering it would cost him the fight , isn't it?? Clowned again as usual
EE fighters were generally regarded as soft surrender monkeys who couldn’t overcome adversity. Vitali played that role to a T and underscored how people felt about this ‘new breed’ of heavyweights. That perception has changed, thankfully. No entire group should be typecast just because of the actions of a few regardless of what the perception is. There are EE’s with heart and EE’s who lack it, but in this case VK didn’t show the fortitude one would expect from a championship-level fighter.
This was my RBR last time i watched it. Chris Byrd vs Vitali Klitschko 1 Vitali 2 Vitali 3 Byrd 4 Vitali 5 Byrd 6 Byrd 7 Vitali 8 Vitali 9 Byrd 10 Vitali doesn't come out for the 10th round 86-85 Vitali A few things i want to point out about this fight, Byrd basically nullified Vitali's jab by parrying it constantly with his right jab. Which is huge weapon to take away when your fighting the much bigger man. It also shows Vitali's jab was nowhere near as good as Wladimir's, who had a pretty potent jab where as Vitali's was just poking it out there. I also felt like Vitali was a bit too tentative in this fight, he didn't really impose himself on Byrd. And he allowed the much smaller Byrd who isn't a big puncher, to start backing him up after the 5th round. As i said before to @Showstopper97 i've never understood where this myth came from, that Vitali was "dominating Byrd". For me it was a very close tactical fight, and Byrd was starting to come on in the 2nd part of the fight. As Vitali was starting to tire from all the missed punches, and i think Byrd deserves more credit for his performance especially since he took the fight on late notice. Yes the injury to Vitali's shoulder was unfortunate, but Byrd had tired Vitali out and Byrd was coming on strong, backing up Vitali and hitting him with the left hand. Last edited: Jul 15, 2022
I thought ol' Dino was semi-cured . His Klitschko obsession was well under wraps for a while there. But just like an alcoholic who thinks he's cured and decides to try one drink, he's right back where he started. And you were the trigger. If he goes full meltdown like the old days, that'll be on your conscience !