Vitali Klitschko vs “The Golden era”? Contenders?

Regardless of what did or didn't cause Vitali’s shoulder injury.

Vitali said there was nothing wrong with his shoulder prior to the Byrd fight he said that in a post fight interview.

So the injury did occur primarily from fighting Byrd the cause of the exact reason is up for debate.

But regardless Vitali did not pursue a rematch despite Byrd being higher ranked than any opponent Vitali beat prior to semi retiring.

There's no reason for Vitali not fighting Byrd between 2001-2004 if he was that confident of winning a rematch.

 

Knew you wouldn't find it.

 

Eubanks lost to George Groves whose arm was literally dangling and flopping by his side. Both Korbov and Groves had visible injuries. You could see the pain they were in and the moment injury occurred.

These cases are not the same. Nobody ringside had any clue Vitali was injured until he quit. There's no point in that fight where he looks injured or any point where he suffered an injury.

Furthermore , Korbov didn't return till a year later.

Groves being in the final of the super 6 had no choice but to go into the Smith fight fresh off surgery. Everybody knew at the time he was handicapped going to that fight. Smith knocked him into an early retirement.

https://talksport.com/boxing/426961...eries-final-more-painful-carl-froch-knockout/


Vitali made a quick comeback against Timmo Hoffman. Nothing wrong with him. He simply quit and ducked the rematch with Byrd. Nothing more to it that that.

 

But you can't disprove it either ? Nor have you come up with any good case why Vitali wouldn't rematch Byrd who would be the best win of his career ? And who was higher ranked than any of Vitali’s wins before his semi retirement ?

But I suppose Danny Williams, Timo Hoffman, Ross Puritty, Larry Donald, 40 year old Vaughn Bean, Orlin Norris, are better than top 3 ranked belt holder Chris Byrd ?

 

I’m the only one in this thread who provided a video showing a shoulder injury in a boxing match and explained the mechanics of the injury.

1-0 Noneck

 

So showing a different fight entirely to the one we are discussing is evidence ? I don't think so.

You also haven't provided any good arguments as to why Vitali didn't pursue a rematch vs Byrd but instead fought alot of far lesser opposition like the names I provided above as context.

Forget the shoulder injury for a second the question is why didn't Vitali fight Byrd between 2001-2004 who would've been the best win of his career and would've done alot for his legacy.

 

Ali is considered the heavyweight GOAT by the majority and Frazier and Foreman usually in the Top 10 by most people here so it will definitely take a heck of a long time for that to even be possible.

 

Byrd got his ass kicked by Wlad. It’s like asking why Tyson didn’t pursue Douglas after Holyfield. Vitali acquitted himself against Lewis, which was a much more noble route than pawing around for a ud against Byrd and giving Don King options.

 

Agreed.

All of that bunch, most of them within the distance.

 

Tyson did want a rematch after his loss but Douglas had issues with Don King.

Also Douglas was pretty much irrelevant after his loss to Holyfield where as Byrd rebuilt himself with wins over Tua, Holyfield, and won a belt and was a top 3 ranked Heavyweight for 4 years.

It's not really the same situation.

Basically what you're saying is because Vitali got his little brother to beat Byrd for him he had no reason to fight him ? I'm not seeing the logic behind that.

Especially since Wladimir himself rematched Byrd and he'd beaten him comprehensively the first time.

Vitali had been criticised for his loss to Byrd and if he really thought it was a fluke then why not rematch Byrd ? Especially when there's the incentive of Byrd being a champion and a highly ranked Heavyweight.

 

Whatever the reason was it still leaves a big answered question about how good Vitali truly was.

Because Byrd would've been far and away his best win of his career and Vitali doesn't really have a stand out win on his resume.

The hype for Vitali comes from losing efforts and dominance against B and C class opposition.

But he never truly showed that he could win against a real upper echelon Heavyweight and he had good opportunities to do so.

Lewis was old and out of shape and Vitali couldn't get the win.

Byrd had a weeks notice he also fought Vitali in his backyard so Byrd was at a disadvantage and again Vitali failed to deliver.

Yeah you can say Vitali was a bit unfortunate but but I still don't think he's proven enough against real top quality Heavyweights in regards to wins.

 

Don King, you said it yourself. Vitali preferred Lewis to whatever Don King wanted.

BTW, since you weren’t watching boxing back then, I’ll let you know that the Byrd fight caused the general public no question Vitali’s heart. Vitali put those questions to bed against Lewis. At no point did the general public demand that he fight Byrd or think that Byrd had a serious chance against him.

 

Couldn't get the win? He was stopped on a horror cut, this is one of the big 'what ifs' in boxing. It's not like Lennie 'beat' him in the accepted fashion...

 

That's exactly my point "what if".

Lewis beat him fair and square he opened the cut up with a legitimate punch and Vitali would've gone blind had it carried on.

Lewis was old out of shape and Vitali couldn't take advantage of a good opportunity taking the mantle from an under par Lewis.

 

Fair comment man. Px