If both retired today who is ranked higher Riddick Bowe or Vitali K?

Bowe's jab wasnt nearly as good as Lewis, he didnt have as much reach, Lewis had huge reach even for his height. Bowe would do ok on the inside but Vitali wouldnt let him stay there for long, hed break him down like the others.
Bowe doesnt have the same stamina as Vitali either so he would probably get stopped in the later rounds

 

Good luck trying to disprove that one

 

Vitali has better feet and defense, and would engage much on the outside. Bowe lack of defense, lesser chin, and focus would cost him.

I seen almost off of Bowe's matches. A good jabber could out jabbed, and did not shine vs mobile targets. Bowe defense vs. the right hand was suspect. It might pain you to admit it, but Vitali moves around a lot and can quickly maneuver around the ring. Maybe not gracefully, but style points needs not apply.

 

Vitali's opposition has been mostly horrendous, with a few decent fighters in there.
And I'm not just hating on his era, I think he's missed fights with the better fighters of the era. Wladimir has fought the better men.

Chris Byrd and Lennox Lewis are probably the best fighters Vitali fought, and despite any mitigating circumstances it is a fact that he lost to both. Against Lewis I actually fail to see any controversy. And against Byrd he may not have been "beaten" by Byrd, but he surrendered with injury - that's fairly clear-cut.

OK, so who are the best he beat ?

Probably Corrie Sanders, Sam Peter, Larry Donald, J.C. Gomez ?
These are not massively impressive names, even of the last decade.

 

I don't need to disprove it. It's your theory. You must prove it.

 

I'd say the older Lewis that beat Vitali fought more like a bigger John Ruiz than Bowe. Lots of clinching, wrestling, holding and hitting, and the occassional strong counter to scrap by. Different skill set.

Bowe was a fairly skilled infighter but he never seemed to be able to impose this on someone who could move and didn't want to engage. When he didn't have that option he plodded behind his jab, looking to bomb over the top. Sometimes it worked, sometimes he took lots of punishment. Could Vitali consistently outbox him from the outside is the question? I think he could as he has strong stamina and is a more disciplined fighter than Golota and Holyfield. Would be a tough test for Vitali though, Bowe didn't show lots of strategic adapatability but he was tough and wouldn't stop coming.

 

The answer is "no".

When has Vitali shown that kind of movement against a boxer of Bowe's class?

 

Bowe had a great jab. It was harder than Lewis's and was extremely accurate. Whether or not it was better than Lewis's depends a lot on how you're judging what makes a good jab. It didn't have the speed or diversity of Lennox's jab, but Bowe put more behind his jabs and was very accurate for such a big guy.

It was certainly a lot better than the jab of the Lewis of 2003.

 

Why should I debate you? You seem to know for certain what will happen.

Who did Golota show that kind of movement against prior to Bowe? When he was headbutting Nicholson?

 

Bowe.

The only thing hurting each Klit's legacy is the fact that the best 2 HWs are brothers and won't fight each other.

 

He had a decent jab for sure and Lewis' wasn't like Ali it was just that he had such a big reach IMO, when lewis slowed down he could sit on his jab very heavily also.
I think he would very competitive with Vitali, hell even Arreola nearly managed to go 12, but even in his prime (Holyfield I) his stamina might not stand up to exchanging with such a strong HW for 12 rounds. I think Vitali would land enough of those cuffing rights in between times that Bowe couldnt stay fresh as a daisy all fight.

 

True,

but in all honesty, there are a few other factors that will always keep their legacies limited as well.. For one thing, neither man ever gained recognition as champ by beating a preceding champion... Vitali had a chance to do this when he fought Lewis, but couldn't capitalize on it.. In addition, both men have some bad losses to lesser fighters, some of which went unavenged, and the list of quality opponents that each man has beaten is thin. On a positive note, I think that their resumes and abilities are better than many of their detractors make them out to be... They certainly have managed to clean up the best of whatever has been out there over the past 5 years, and both have good records and stats in terms of numbers, for whatever its worth.... There is also somethig to be said for longevity.. Vitali, despite being 38 years old, and losing 4 years of his career to injuries, has managed to put together a respectable streak against 4 ring ranked opponents, and Wlad has accumulated a record spanning nearly 60 fights, and has unified about 80% of the title....

 

I don't agree with that at all. If longevity weren't taken into account then any fighter who had a few great performances (Bowe against Holyfield, Golota against Bowe, Douglas against Tyson etc) would be disproportionately ranked against fighters who were good across their whole careers, or at least a long enough time span. Nor do I think guys like Roy Jones, Holyfield or Ali should be marked down because they fought on too long. I think ATG lists are a load of **** if longevity isn't accounted for