since lewis retired, my interest in the heavyweight division dwindled massively. i think vitali is a good fighter and i rate him quite high but my knowledge on either fighter isn't great. in order, who would you rank as vlad and vitali's 5 best victories each?
Vitali KO9 Peter - Only man to ever KO Peter, didn't lose a round Vitali KO9 Gomez - Dominated and knocked out a clear top5 heavy. Vitali KO2 Kirk Johnson - Dominated an out of shape contender as if he was a nobody Vitali KO8 Sanders - Dominated a hard hitting fighter and knocked him out Vitali KO10 Larry Donald - Only man to ever KO Larry Donald Apart from that, his losses are pretty good too. KO loss to Lewis on a cut while being ahead on the cards, and Retired against Byrd after dominating him over 9 rounds. (8-1 and 7-2 twice)
vitali: peter, sanders, williams, johnson, hide. wladimir: byrd I+II, ibragimov, peter, brock, mccline.
at the time he faced vitali he was only knocked out once... at least he deserved the title shot by fighting numerous eliminators - :hi:david haye!
I'm a Vitali fan, but you need to be corrected. Vitali did NOT KO Peter. Peter retired on the stool, granted he was well on his way to getting KO'd
When you look at the names of their best wins it reminds you of how poor the division has been of late.
Wlad clearly has the better wins throughout his career. Chris Byrd - 31-1 WBO Champ Chris Byrd - 39-2-1 IBF Champ #1 ranked heavyweight by ring mag Sam Peter - 24-0 Top Contender. Most feared contender at the time Calvin Brock - 29-0 Considered America's top contender at the time Sultan Ibragimov - 22-0-1 WBO Heavyweight World Champion Tony Thompson - 31-1 #1 Contender. Hadn't lost in 8 years Lamon Brewster - 33-3 Revenge match Jameel McCline - 28-2-3 Considered American's top contender. Also was the #1 ranked contender. Recent wins over Briggs, Grant, and Whitaker. Monte Barrett - 23-1 Hot prospect at the time Ray Mercer - 30-4-1 Up in the years, but still was to be considered a stiff test. Derrick Jefferson - 23-2-1 Ranked pretty high at the time. Was considered an extremely dangerous opponent. Big man with a huge punch. Ray Austin - #1 mandatory Challenger. Hadn't lost a fight in 6 years. Hasim Rahman - 46-6-2 Former Undisputed World Champion Frans Botha - 45-3-1 Ranked pretty high. An early test in Wlad's career Eliseo Castillo - 18-0 Coming off of a very impressive win over Michael Moorer. Axel Schulz - 26-4-1Highly ranked contender who was robbed against George Foreman in his fight for the IBF title. Another early test in Wlad's career. One of the most impressive things to me is that great mix that you see in his opponents. Big fighters, smaller fighters, fast, powerful, great chin, slick boxers, crude punchers, southpaws, young prospects, solid contenders, current Champs, former Champs, unification fight, older vets, undefeated fighters, ect.... Soon we will be adding David Haye to that list as well.:yep
:rofl the amount of **** you talk knows no bounds, trying to make a bunch of average fighters and no hopers look like great wins :verysad
Better to get KO'd then quit on your stool without injury forcing you to do so, especially while defending your HW Championship belt :rofl