Larry Holmes Versus Vitali Klitschko

Kevin Johnson also gave Vitali one of his most difficult fights. Vitali won every round but he missed a huge number of punches, never put a dent in Kevin and got marked up by Kevin's jab. Heavyweightpunchcounts made it 109-59 Vitali in terms of landed punches, a 65-35 fight in a sense.

 

Its well documented that Byrd literally got off the couch on a weeks notice and flew to Germany weighing just 208lbs. . Im not sure this case is comparable to the other examples you listed. . Sanders had loads of time to prepare and was being advised by Lennox Lewis.
Ruiz had just come out of a fight where he blitzed a guy and was in good fight shape.

Vitali and his team would have looked at Byrd on tape before they offered him a contract. He was already on HBO , notably a year earlier getting ran through by Ike Ibeauchi. Byrd had no access to Vitali on tape when he agreed to take the fight.
He went in there and formulated his game plan during the fight and adapted as the rounds went on.

 

Norton was the number 2 contender,and Holmes went into that fight with a tear in his left bicep.
Vitali certainly did not fight the best of his era,his resume is distinctly underwhelming.

 

208 lbs wasn't an unusual weight for Byrd, he weighed that against Ibeabuchi and only 3 lbs more against Wlad than he did Vitali. Byrd would exaggerate down his amount of training for his own reasons: he described himself as a "blown-up SMW" after the fight, which makes the win more impressive and claimed after facing Wlad that Vitali hit harder, only to walk that back years later. Byrd's career weights suggest a high degree of professionalism and he'd had a 10 round fight 63 days prior to getting the call to fight Vitali. Also: "Byrd (who had been training for a bout with Lawrence Clay-Bey) stepped in at 10 days notice to take the fight." Clay-Bey at least shared the same stance as Vitali.

I heard Sanders took the fight after 10 or 13 heavies turned it down and that it was short notice but I can't find how many days he had. Being advised by Lewis is of questionable benefit given that Lewis's only venture into coaching failed.

I know Ruiz had 4 weeks or so, so that was somewhat different to Byrd and he'd recently beat a SHW.

Puritty only had 8 days though.

Fair point that they would have seen Byrd on tape. But unless they'd been studying him for months prior, which seems unlikely, then they wouldn't have had much prep for him. They also must have thought he'd be easy work given the Ike fight.

I should have mentioned that Byrd's evasion (along with punches to the shoulder area) may well have been the reason for Vitali's supposed serious injury. Injuries are one of the disadvantages of throwing and missing a lot of punches, along with fatigue, which was clearly affecting Vitali before he quit.

An interesting quote:

"If Vitali had continued and was knocked out nobody would have believed he had an injury." - Peter Kohl, Vitali’s promoter

 

I don't share your opinion of the value of the 1980 heavyweights - but actually thought Witherspoon may have won that fight, could have gone either way. I still don't think he was a standout heavyweight. He had a few good wins in an ordinary era.

 

That same Ken Norton only won 2 of his next 5 fights in 2 of the fights he was Ko'd in 1 round in his draw vs Scott Ledoux he was dropped 2X - do you think that Norton would have beaten any Klitschko?

 

But again you're only pointing out the negatives of Holmes's resume and not Vitali's who has a significantly worse resume so I don't understand your point.

You're discrediting Witherspoon but again I ask who did Vitali beat who was better than Witherspoon on a H2H basis or achievement wise ?

 

What makes you think that? I watched Vitali fight on TV prior to Byrd.

 

Styles make fights. Byrd and Toney pose stylistic issues for the robotic Klitschko.

 

Toney gets battered by Vitali. HW toney was nothing.

Holmes on the other hand probably gets a decision. And i wouldnt bet on that.

 

Im pretty sure Byrd who has shown alot of knowledge and interest since, had seen and heard of the Klitchkos before that fight.

 

Byrd who is known for being honest explained his situation going into that fight in an interview. His word is worth more than yours.

 

Vitali Klitschko vs Herbie Hide was live on Sky Sports in the UK, i watched it. No need to take my word for it, though, here it is -

This content is protected

Do you have a source where Byrd, a professional athlete going into a world title fight in a multi million pound/dollar sport, claimed he couldn't access video of Vitali that was readily available in the public domain?

 

You seem confused becuse I never once claimed anything about what you did or didn't see.

These are Byrds own words not mine. Call him a liar if you want. Do you think he had access to Youtube 24 years ago? Dope.

 

Then what did you mean by "his word is worth more than yours" in response to a post where I claimed to have seen Vitali fight pre Byrd?

Boxers watched videos of their opponents long before YouTube.

You questioned my word, I provided proof Vitali was filmed fighting pre Byrd. I ask for a source of Byrd claiming he had no access to fight footage of Vitali prior to their fight and you provide nothing.