just watched the match it seems strange that vitali decides to stop at the end of the 9th, he was way ahead on the cards, all he had to do was jab and block his way to victory. he didn't even look like he was in pain.
They lost that particular fight but fortunately didnt lose the fighter, Klitschkos had surgery done to his shoulder and more often than just once, it was the right thing to do at the moment.
Vitali is tough as nails and if he doesn't weep because of the injury it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt badly... You should experience the torn rotator cuff yourself, then you'll know if you can fight inspite of this - if you can then my congratulations, but I really doubt you could... Essentialy you suggest Vitali should have fought three more rounds with Byrd, an top notch boxer, slick and extremely fast, with one hand only? Vitali is good but surely not THAT good... You have no idea what are you talking about...
Only 1 figther would carry on with that sort of injury and that is danny Williams. If he carried on it could have ended his career
Vitali is tough as nails and if he doesn't weep because of the injury it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt badly... You should experience the torn rotator cuff yourself, then you'll know if you can fight inspite of this - if you can then my congratulations, but I really doubt you could... Essentialy you suggest Vitali should have fought three more rounds with Byrd, an top notch boxer, slick and extremely fast, with one hand only? Vitali is good but surely not THAT good... You have no idea what are you talking about...
People above are making it sound like you can't use your arm if you have a torn rotator cuff. I've had one before, and while it limits your range of motion where it doesn't hurt, it doesn't really make it so you can't use your arm. He just wouldn't have been able to lift his arm over his head or pull it back really far. It's not like he had a dislocated shoulder, or like he was pitching a baseball. He and his trainer probably freaked out that it was something worse than it was, and yes, he would have needed surgery after the fight either way, but I doubt that finishing the fight would have changed anything about his career, and he likely would have been able to continue using that arm enough to fight Byrd off for the win.
Vitali's face is always as cold as ice (watch his staredowns at his opponents), so we would probably not see he is in pain. And the fact he underwent that many surgeries only suggest he stopped at the right moment. Otherwise he would have suffered more unneccesary damage to his shoulder (only for 1 win more)
The question ist not the shoulder injury !!! Round 9 is the question. Why? A great Champion had Byrd sent to the canvas , like Ibeabuchi did or Wladimir at Mannheim 2006.
..................he said he hurt it in 4th round....and the pain got progressivly worse....to the point where he was worried about permanent injury.