When is Vitali going to fight a Credible World Class fighter?

I don't think they have quite that many but I don't think Wlad will ever catch them..especially top 5. Charles, Ali, and Louis are all double digits in top 5 wins; Ali about 20. For all the talk of being a Light Heavy, Charles has 10 top 5 Heavyweight wins, third most in modern boxing. Marciano is right there with about 9.

Wlad is at pace with Holmes but I'm not sure if he can keep fighting for as many years though he will likely pass him in top 5, and he has a realistic chance of catching Tyson, Holyfield, and Lewis.

 

They have. It has been posted here before by Henry Hascup, I think. Ali had something like 37 wins against top 10 fighters and Louis had 33.

 

Eh, give or take I believe Ali is much closer to 30 than 40. At any rate, he's definetly up there.

I counted Louis, Ali, Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield, Charles, Patterson, Walcott, and Lewis before. Think Patterson and Charles are the most surprising, given how often they are discredited. Should make for an interesting comparision. I don't have the data off hand, I'll have to get back here when I'm on my home computer.

 

Well, Hascup (or if it was Old Fogey) seemed like he'd done his homework

 

Carnera was overdosing on garlic.

 

He did fight a credible world class fighter, Lennox Lewis, and nearly lost his eye. That tells you all you need to know about him.

 

Probably the same as your problem with Tom Heeney.

 

Aye. The Cooper fight was hilarious. Badly outclassed, Cooper began to drink alcohol in-between the the rounds. After the fight, I believe his wife said something close to you don't put a VW in a race with a formula one race car.

 

McGrain,

If Wlad and Vitali are almost always #1 and #2, there is only room for one guy at #3, and that might be whomever the WBA champion is that won't fight them! This is an obvious point that needs to be conceded.

I do not see much difference between Haye, Povetkin, Solis, Chagaev, and Adamek. Who #3 is now is irrelevant. It could only be defined if Haye would offer Povetkin, Chagaev, Admaek or Solis a shot, but he won't!

This is not a Johnson thread, but when he was champion he ducked the top 3 for his entire title reign. As a Champion now at age 39, top competition is ducking Vitali. See Haye, Valuev, and Solis as they turned down offers.

Adamek is next for Vitali. Rank him where you like between #3 or #7.

 

Exclude Wepener, Evagnelista and Spinks if you want from Ali's top 10 opponents. He would still have at least three as many wins against top 10 competition as Wlad, not to mention Vitaly. If you look at top 5 opposition (which is even more pertinent) then the gap widens.

And if you compare Ali and Wlad in terms of KO losses against non ranked opposition it becomes really amusing.