Is Vitali Kiltschko an all time top 10 heavy weight?

I am a big Vitali fan, but he is very clearly not top 10. Perhaps top 15, top 20 is more likely.
Though I don't think there are more than 5 heavyweights in history I would favor over him in a fantasy matchup.

 

NO!

a 150 years of Boxing, please.

 

Interested to know how you have him H2H #1 when he lost against his two best opponents. Neither of which were at their best at the time.

Lewis was past prime , fat and slow. Byrd got off the couch on a weeks notice.

Also worth noting that at the time of Vitali's stool retirement , he was promoter of Chris Byrd. Instead of taking the rematch himself , his promotion company made Byrd face his younger brother.
True greats are defined by taking immediate rematches and over turning the result. Vitali ducking that rematch is worse than getting turned into paste by geriatric Lewis.

 

I gave 19 ranked fighters he missed, there are more,did none of them want to fight him?

 

He was clearly fit to fight because he fought Tim Hoffman. Even then he could have allowed Byrd take a meager title defence . Wlad went in to take the title back because Vitali just wasn't interest in the rematch. Byrd signed with King 4 years later.

 

Because he was beating them. The only thing that saved them was freak injuries.

 

That makes him likely to quit in fights so he can't be h2h the greatest

Not taking rematches excludes him also , no?

 

I think he would have beaten Byrd but he was not prepared to gut it out,that's his choice,and a decision only he could make.
Whether he would have beaten Lewis is pure conjecture.
After 6 rds Vitali was up by 2 points on all cards.

Harold Lederman, scoring for HBO had it dead level at 57-57
Two points at the halfway stage is certainly not an unassailable lead.
The fact is an old Lewis ,weighing a career highest ,beat Vitali.
Maybe in a rematch Vitali would have won?
Maybe a better prepared Lewis would have drastically improved on his performance ,we will never know.

 

He did not want to quit in either fight. He begged to keep the fight going with Lennox and was in so much pain after fighting 6 rounds with a torn shoulder ( still beating Byrd) he was worried about permanent injury.

He literally terrified Lennox into retirement, and had so little respect for Byrd that he let his younger brother ( not the better fighter) beat the snot out of him for him.

The only thing that saved both of them was freak injuries to Vitali. That means they got lucky .

 

If Lewis ran terrified into retirement then Vitali ran terrified into retirement from Bermane Stiverne. Thats how it works if you play that game , k?

Vitali having his brother avenge a loss of him is nothing to bragg about. Its cowardly actually.

 

He quit in the Byrd fight ,he told his trainer Sudenek the pain was too bad,its on video and had been translated several times
Many fighters have continued with injuries at least as severe as Vitali's ,and against opponents their own size in fights they were losing .
Terrified ? Lewis' resume shits all over Vitali's . Unlike Vitali, Lewis didn't cherry pick.

 

The problem with your theory is that you make it sound like Byrd was winning and had a snowballs chance in hell of doing so - if that fight went on.

He was being beaten , and clearly so. There was no way he was going to win against Vitali. For around 6 rounds Vitali was beating Byrd with one arm. I mean really, Vitali never needed to fight Byrd again.

I think Vitali was letting his brother get in some easy work. Vitali was always looking out for his little brother.

By the way, Byrd also admits Vitali is the better fighter, and got smoked by the lesser brother- Wlad , twice.
Lennox Lewis literally gave up fighting altogether rather than face Vitali again. Not to many people can say they beat Lennox Lewis into early retirement.

Vitali brought the pain, and no one wanted any part of him.

 

Thats just deflection and putting a spin on a situation you can't defend.

He didn't really need to fight him again after he quit and lost against him , really?

Does Timmo Hoffman look better on his resume than a victorious rematch over Byrd? Of course a win over Byrd would be better than most of the guys he went on to beat.

Imagine Charlo got his brother to rematch Brian Castano for him.. He'd have been mocked and laughed out of the sport.

The reality is Byrd had zero preparation or gamelan when he took the fight on a weeks notice. He had to adapt on the fly and did a pretty good job considering the circumstances.

Going into a rematch , Byrd would be better equipped and familiar with Vitalis style having figured it out after 4 rounds. Thats why Vitali didn't want it. He couldn't hit Byrd with a sold blow and it would have been even worse in the rematch. Face it , your guy committed one of the worst acts of cowardice in boxing history by having his tag team partner fight the guy who beat him .