Power - (1st) Wlad gets the edge here, may not be as explosive as Haye but i think he does hit harder. (2nd) Haye, people may disagree with me here but i think Haye may hit a little than Vitali now, prime for prime the edge would go towards Vitali. (3rd) Vitali, clearly out of his prime and only threw arm punches in his last bout. General Speed - Haye probably has a clear edge here being the smaller man coming up to heavyweight. Wlad has a fast one two. Vitali has clearly slowed down over the years. Chin - Vitali has a very clear edge here over the other two. Wlad has been stopped a number of times although he has not been Knocked out cold. Haye has been down a number of times and was stopped earlier in his career although he was still on his feet. His punch resistance will be a huge deciding factor in a fight with either Klit Offensive Skill - Haye takes this for me due to his variety and his aggressive style whilst on the attack. Vitali takes this over his brother due to his willingness to attack and put unbearable pressure on his opponent, on a side note he would still be nightmare for any heavy in history with his impressive workrate. Wlad seems unwilling to finish opponents when he has a clear opportunity but has proved that he has one punch power in either hand, his lack of willingness to finist an opponent off could be fatal in a fight with Haye. Defensive Skills - Wlad has a style which has proved very difficult to break down, much of his defence lies with battering ram jab and his fast footwork. Haye proved against Ruiz that he was very good at avoiding punches on the defensive with slick headmovement and clever footwork, still room for improvement. Vitali does'nt really have to rely on his defence due to his chin and his ability to put his opponent on the backfoot. Mental toughness - I feel Haye has proved himself in this department time and time again, took on Enzo Macc in what many saw as a 50/50 fight and snatched a belt from Mormeck in a foriegn country after a KD. Vitali showed incredible heart against Lewis proving he could take a punch as well as give one, should not have quit against Byrd. Wlad has been proven to press the panick button when in trouble. Stamina Vitali has proven stamina and threw over 800 punches against Arreola. Haye gassed against Thompson which led to his one and only defeat. Wlads style has largely stopped the occurance of Wlad gassing although it is still a question mark in the back of his mind, might explain his reluctance to finish an opponent off. Interchangeable with Haye in this case Experience Wlad has over 50 fights and has a slight edge over his big bro Vitali has a wealth of experience and has shared a ring with ATG Lewis Haye's experience is not to be sneered at despite only having 24 bouts, hes held 3 belts at cruiserweight and now holds the WBA belt up at heavy. Ive tried to be unbiased, please give feedback or complete your own list or add to the list if i agree with something then i will copy and paste
This has been going around in my head for weeks, Vitali has an ATG chin but little head movement, Haye has the capacity to explode very fast hooks from odd angles, if Vitali sees them then he will most likely take them, if he doesnt see them then it anyones guess to what happens. Cant remember who said this but they said "Power thrills, Speed kills" that could very well apply to a future fight between these two.:good
I'd replace "fast footwork" with "clinching". Once someone gets remotely close to Wlad, he grabs and drapes himself over them, nullifying them completely. The hugging doesn't win over the fans, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Vitali actually does have an interesting defense. He does bend back and lean away (which he can do because he's so tall), and he swats peoples arms away. It's is not pretty, but it's very effective.
im probably not the best person to rate the three but i felt haye proved a lot about how good his defence can become bearing in mind he didnt get much sparring in for this bout.
Vitali very rarely gets hit. Sure, he has the chin going on for him, but there was the Lewis fight, then Sanders... then, that's it. Those were the times when his chin got tested. And notice, I say the Sanders fight, should have said the first round. He has the best defense of all, because he's so good on the counter, so good at timing, so good at using his height to lean back, Byrd said it, after fighting both, Vitali is just untouchable and Byrd was quite a boxer. Watch Sam Peter vs the brothers and see who got hit more. Haye has crap defense. Sure he... moves his head, but... he still gets hit. He got hit versus Ruiz. Not flush, but he did get hit ample times. Wlad went down... 3 (or so) times against Peter. And generally, when you suffer a bad run like Wlad did you rarely recover. But Wlad did. Heart is pretty much a non issue, they've all proven it. And you haven't covered all aspects. Let me help with that. Stamina Vitali Wlad Haye Experience Wlad Vitali Haye Size and reach Vitali Wlad Haye Trainers Wlad Vitali Haye There you go. Could add workrate, could add skill, could add intelligence. Haye is just not at the level. Sure he's a good boxer. But a Lennox Lewis he is not.
That's bound to happen when you are looking eye to eye with your opponents. When you are a foot taller, it's way easier to not get hit. If you look back, every fighter gets hit. Even the great ones. I's say that Haye's defense is good (but not great)...for now. When he gets a bit older, he won't be able to do that anymore and he'll get clocked easily. Calling his defense "crap" is a bit too harsh. He dodges more than he gets hit, so he's in the plus column.
you come across as desperate to prove a point, yet ive already stated how i was trying to be unbiased. you mention that Haye has a crap defence yet you fail to notice that Haye had little sparring for the fight, he also didnt get hit anywhere near the amount your stating, what you fail to realise is that Haye was very good at setting traps for Ruiz, letting Ruiz come forward and throw punches is part of the plan to walk the guy onto puches. Haye done this all night. secondly Wlad panics when put under pressure, its not all that hard to see. As for your last comparisons as much as your trying to prove a point and belittle the list ive made, i actually agree with it although stamina is a toss up between Haye and Wlad:tong
Good list, but some points are missing: Tendency to make mistakes: Wlad and Vitali don't make mistakes. Vitali never really has, maybe punching himself out a little against Lennox, but he still had a good fights against a top ATG. Wlad was mistake prone earlier, but has become an efficient machine under Manny. Haye tended to give opponents opportunities that he clearly dominanted in pretty much every departement. No comparison, if Haye doesn't become more efficient and consistent, he will lose to the Klitschkos. Size - skill ratio: Wlad and Vitali move very well for their size. Of course a smaller man like Haye looks more smooth, there is a reason why you will never see very tall world classe gymnasts or dancers. But in the size - skill ratio, I don't think Haye has the skills or speed to make up for the size difference, given the fact that both Klitschkos use their size exceedingly well.
Jab Wlad .......... ........... .......... .......... .......... ...... ...... Vitali ........ ..... Haye
Good post.... But: 1) You under-rate Vitali's defence a little... He uses his height, reach and lateral movement very well to avoid clean punches... I don't think Ruiz would have landed as much on VK as he did on Haye last night. 2) Stamina will be a huge factor... It's a tough call... Vitali was probably number 1, but he's getting older... Both Wlad and Haye have struggled in the past, but both seem to be improved based on recent fights.... I still think Wlad will gas first IF he's forced to fight... and Haye's stamina may suffer a little from the extra poundage he's now carrying. Stamina: Vitali Haye Wlad
I would let haye get tagged by a few legitimate heavyweights as did wlad before i made that assessment