I can remember reading somewhere that Vitali was named by ring magazine as the hardest punching heavy of all time. I am no Klitschko hater, infact I like both brothers and i respect their high knockout percentages, but surely Vitali is not the hardest puncher ever to grace the heavies? Foreman, Tyson, Liston...even guys who never managed to cut it at the top like Tua and Shavers put people to sleep, most of Vitali's stoppages have come through tko or the opponent still conscious and on his feet...
Vitali is definitely not a huge puncher, certainly not in the mold of Shavers and Foreman. He's nowhere near as concussive and his brother is a bigger puncher IMO. He's got more of a thudding power and punches from his elbows. He relies on accumulation for his stoppages.
I think he's naturally heavy-handed and very strong, but his style is based on accumulative damage, which is what is reflected by the nature of many of his knockouts. His technique isn't meant to bomb people out with one shot. ...It's really more of a sadistic endurance test for the other guy that they usually fail. He's not a real puncher. Not like the best. But he's very heavy-handed, I'd say.
I've read that too. That KO percentage bull**** is extremely misleading. If you didn't know anything about Vitali you would think he was dropping guys and putting them to sleep left and right when in actuality, most of his fights are stopped simply because he's outclassing his opponent and or accumulation of punishment, not because he's a tremendous puncher. I'm not saying the man can't punch but he's definitely not the hardest puncher of all time. He's not even in the discussion.
Vitali is a big puncher but not on the level of Shavers, Foreman, Wladimir or Lewis. I also believe he lost a bit of power with age & he chooses to dish out slow, prolonged beatings because I think he truly enjoys punishing his opponents. The first time I noticed this was against Corrie Sanders and VK did the same against Danny Williams, who he knocked down multiple times before KOing him.
He blew more people out in the opening rounds than all but 1 or 2 HWs in boxing history. His power however seriously declined in the past couple of years, I think the key moment was the injury in the Chris Byrd fight. Not that it physically took out something, but he returned with a different approach to the game. His return ended in his first even decison in his career and the 8-9-10 round finishes followed. He further dropped power when he was forced out for 4 years due to injuries, but IMO just like with Calzaghe, it worked for his benefit.
Who was the last opponent of a relative high standard he stopped with one punch? Has it even happened? I was completely confused how he could be voted as hardest puncher and I have only been into boxing properly for about 4 years. I do like him though and I really hope one of them gives David Haye a sound thrashing...
Kickboxing injuries are what made him box that way. Vitali has been fighting alot longer than just boxing.
I don't think so. I think he has very heavy hands. Tyson (not prime but his power never left him) hit Danny Williams with everything he had yet Vitali had him all over the canvas. A guy his size is always gonna hit hard.
Right after his last fight, Chef said Vitali was wanting answers as to why he couldn't KO Briggs, and he was told it was due to his technique of arm punching. And he is now apparently putting effort into correcting that, and bringing back his *full bore* punching technique that earned him so many early KOs earlier in his career. Its not a matter of strength, its a matter of his arm punching technique, and I guess we'll see if Vitali has made the needed changes to increase his KO power when he fights Solis, or Adamek, or whomever. I think after the back surgery, it caused a somewhat more stiff back stance, and results in an arm punch that has little to no body behind it. I hope he can revert back to putting his entire body into his shots, once again.
YES HE IS OVERRATED............. KEVIN JOHNSON......KIRK JOHNSON.....GOMEZ.....ODED SULLIVAN........AAREOLA....................................NON OF THESE GUYS ARE EVEN AS GOOD AS TIM WITHERSPOON. WORD:smoke:smoke:smoke:smoke