Is Vitali klitschko a top 10 ATG?

Greatness isn't necessarily judged on head to head because of size and nutrition differences etc.

I presonally dont think Vitali will ever be considered a top 10 ATG. Maybe top 20ish. Wlad has a chance of being considered top 10 if he continues to win the way he has been for another 5+ years.

 

No, but lets be real here- we have had something like 130 years of Queensbury rules fighting, with maybe hundreds of thousands of men competing at heavy around the world. TI is no longer realistic to talk about a top 10. Vitaly is going to be top 20, and that is fine.

 

I don't think a prime Ali would KO Vitali but I think he'd embarass him. Maybe even win every round.

I think prime Tyson, Holmes, Foreman and Louis all stop him on cuts mid rounds.

Against the other five I think it would be quite an even although I can't see Vitali loosing to Marciano or Frazier simply due to the size difference. Prime Holyfield would probably win, Liston and Dempsy 50/50.

 

H2H, Vitali is a handful for any Heavyweight in history. I can't rank him in the top 10 though, just because his level of competition is so woeful - when you try and compile a list of his best wins, this becomes abundantly clear.

It's not his fault that the Heavyweight division sucks but you can't give him too much credit for beating guys like Briggs.

 

Today there is this article in the ring magazine which is exactly for not educated fans like yourself http://www.ringtv.com/blog/2436/comparing_fighters_from_different_eras_can_be_perilous/. Read it carefully please. Vitally is not in the top 100 ATG because he doesn't have a single HOF on his resume. And a lot of these guys you mentioned will beat the **** out of him. The only HOF he fought was Lewis and he lost. Lewis is behind most of these guys in the ATG classifications.

edit:
if you ask for top 10 ATG in the heavyweight maybe it''s hard to tell. He should be in the top15

 

:good

Boxingbuzz, how do you think the Haye Harrison fight is gonna play out?

 

no way, good fighter, woeful list of opponents. his brother on the other hand is really making a case for himself. pick up wins over povetkin and haye and he may very well be there.

 

I don't personally have either Klit in the top 10.

I have no problems with people ranking them in the top 20 or so.

One thing that I wonder.... if Vitali or Wlad had of boxed in an era with other great fighters, then how would that have affected them? Would they have risen to the challenge and become even better boxers than they are now?

 

Exactly...even with all these fantasy H2H with greats like Ali, Frazier, etc...the question would be, would they be able to up their game a level or two. Ali, etc have proven they could beat future HoF'ers and ATG's. As good as the Klitschko's are, and the physical attributes they possess...could they step up?

 

:huh

 

neither klitschko is top 10 ATG material...

but how you worked out that wlad is better than vitali is ****ing stupid

they've both fought almost the same kind of guys, and have similar resume's in terms of opposition....except in the process wlad has been knocked the **** out 3 times, and vitali hasnt.

bull****

 

and btw, in regards to this thread

are you having a laugh? vitali couldnt comfortably deal with an old, slow, plodding, jaded lennox lewis....a peak lewis would have caved his face in...

vitali cant be mentioned in the same breathe as someone like Ali

 

I'd rank Vitali somewhere between #15-25 of all time. The guy has one of the best chins, and knockout ratios (even in title fights), not to mention the guy has never really been outboxed before.

 

vitali is a good dominant fighter of this era. In my eyes the best heavyweight since lennox. But he is nowhere near the top 20 imo.

Just look at the names on his resume. Not a single win stands out. His most talked about performance was when he had his face ripped open by an old fat lennox lewis. Such is the gulf in class between the two! I dont care if vitali was winning up till then. Lennox was catching vitali clean from round 4 onwards and would have eventually stopped him. Wheras vitali had connected with his best shots and couldnt halt lewis.

The klitschkos are criminally overrated on esb