Vitali starting to wither... may be time to retire

I think Vitaly has to be slowing down. His age and past injuries have to be taking a toll. I've thought he's been looking a bit stiffer and overall less fluid during this whole comeback. Thats why I thought Arreola and Gomez were live underdogs against him. The fact that he keeps rolling over some decent fighters at this age and after being away for four years is a testament to how tough a fighter he is. Makes you wonder what we'd think of him if he hadn't missed those four closer to his prime years. I personally hope he keeps fighting the best out there as long as he can do it.

 

Kevin Johnson was shook up by an ancient Bruce Seldon so those saying that Johnson has an iron chin or might have one need to take a closer look.

 

It amazes me how people can react to one fight. Vitali won 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109! At age 38, he easily defeated a much younger un-defeated fighter, who had good defense, good speed, good size, and good durability.

While this was a far cry from Vitali's pasting 11 weeks ago on Arreola, I think the style of the opponent, Johnson's ability to counter, and the cut sustained had a lot to do with his effort. No one is going to look good on Johnson. Vitali is hardly done. He remains big, strong, in-shape and skilled.

I'd like to see Vitali fight Haye next, but I doubt Haye wants it. If that is the case give Valuev a try.

 

Older champions seldom seek out matches with much younger and faster challengers. Even on an " off night " Johnson had trouble reaching Vitali with his jab. In fact, Vitali made Johnson miss quite a bit.

Here's the bottom line. In the past 14 months, Vitali has boxed 39 rounds with 4 ring magazine ranked opponents in Peter, Gomez, Arreola, and Johnson. He has gone 38-1 on the score cards, with little break in-between each fight. To suggest he is on the decline now just doesn't hold any water.

 

This thread shouldn't be in the Classic Forum. Even so, Vitali did nothing to invoke ATG talk. Johnson is a Ham-N-Egger with no chance to win at all. Vitali should step up his competition and fight a real challenger.

 

I basically agree with all of this.

 

Bum,

I am a V.K. jocksniffer to the max, but I really would like to see him hang up the gloves in 2010 and walk away as champion......... He doesn't need to fight anymore.... He has nothing more to prove..... No matter WTF the American fight-fan public thinks of him, he is pretty set and famous around the globe...... He is also rich and secure....... In my book early 2010 would be a good time to announce his retirement........ The dude is on top..... Why chance and blow a good thing???? 38 is a perfect time to retire........ The dude is going to the "Halls" in the future..........
thumbsup:bbb

MR.BILL:hat

 

Disagree with the propositions of this thread. Vitaly won every round for goodness sakes against a guy it wasn't easy to look good against.

Hey, even Foreman couldn't KO Jimmy Young, and Ali struggled with Young. This Kevin Johnson is a 2009 version of Jimmy Young. A total spoiler. Real pain in the ass. He's a guy that you just need to be happy to come away with the win against. If your goal is not to fight but just to defend and make sure you don't get knocked out, then it will make for a horrid fight sometimes. Even Dempsey went the distance with Gibbons. It happens. Klit is entitled to a stinker like this was, and credit for not getting frustrated and taken out of his game by this piece of garbage that didn't really want to fight.

 

I don't know. Those reflexes are certainly in decline compared to his fights a decade ago. He's a different guy in the ring than that version, but is the rare type that has the ring smarts and discipline and conditioning to continue winning. Very very rare skill and one that's seldom seen and never appreciated.

You also have to factor in those numerous surgeries/kickboxing career/200+ amateur bouts/ and it's incredible the guy is continuing to dominate on the scorecards giving up a huge gap in age against challengers. Who else has ever done that?

He needs some beneficial and optimal matchmaking just like every other old fighter chose to take. They simply don't fight the Johnson's in the sport. How about some stationary targets that are easy to hit and have some history of losing fights? But then again, not too many of those old name fighters ever did get in the ring with him. A Tua or Holyfield or Botha are going to be a far easier puzzle to solve than the Johnson or Thompson type defensive guys at this stage of the game.

Maybe 1 last fight against a name opponent at a huge venue. Maskaev is definately out now. Maybe Valuev if they can get the guy to sign a contract. Or Holyfield. Or Tua. And since Vitali has money, he can go out at the right time and with a win and his health & remain being a credit to the sport.

 

I dont know about that. Vitali would have done himself well to pound Johnsons body considering the guy just languished on the ropes. I dont even know what Johnson was throwing in return. They were like pushing slaps. He could throw his jab out there, but everything else was like two kids slapping their hands together.

 

Good point. Given the competition out there, he should look to hang em up soon. People are just looking for ways to drag the guys accomplishments down now, and a loss to a subpar fighter would be the ultimate ammunition, but fighting guys like Johnson is completely worthless other than getting some work in and a W on his record. I would like to see him fight Haye, I think he beats him easy, and a lot of people are high on Haye because of his big mouth.

 

As much as we would all like to see a Klitschko vs Klitschko unification, it's never going to happen. And frankly, I'm not even sure that we would see either of them perform at their true best in such a match, given the extreme conflict of interest and the emotional factors that would most certainly be involved.

As for the rest of the field, I wouldn't mind seeing Vitali facing Povetkin or Haye, but there really isn't much else that interests me at this point. A win over Valuev means nothing, and if that's all that's left for VK, then retirement is really something he should be considering.

 

I believe Vitali has stated that he will retire in a year. I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be able to keep his promise because outside of a possible fight with Haye, there's nothing in the division that interests him.

He didn't look any worse against Kevin Johnson than he did in his previous fights against Arreola, Gomez and Peter in my opinion. I don't rate Johnson but he is very defensive and made it more difficult than Arreola or Peter who simply plodded forward into Vitali's punches. Unfortunately he did not actually attempt to win the fight.