With the hyopethetical that was presented, Vitali would make my top 50. It would round if off well IMO. I already have Wlad amongst the top 50 as well. Above Tommy Burns for sure, and I love Burns.
From what I have read and the little I have seen, I would also rank Wlad above Tommy Burns... By the way, does everyone agree that these ATG lists should be based upon achievement, which can mean anything from names in the victory coloum to title sucess, rather than fantasy match-ups which fail to take into acount boxing, and sport in general, developments? For example, it seems obvious to me that someone like Jack Johnson would have struggled with the manner in which the Klitschko brothers fight and would have lost but, despite that, deserves to be ranked incredibly higher than the pair of them through his achievements.
As i said in my post after, I havent done a list though intend to and id be surprised if Vitali's any higher than mid 40's. My point to the guy was Vitali being Lewis' best win on the grounds that Vitali was an ATG in his prime is invalid because Vitali isnt an ATG heavyweight. Fair enough right? But yes Wlad is the superior of the 2, both in ability and best win (Chagaev victory rarely gets the credit it deserves)
Jeanettes hands low style serves him well, his upper body movement and sharp, consistent jab seeing him win the early portion. But he clinches more as Langford starts to outmuscle him, and 'The Boston Tar Baby' is completely as advertised. Those three knockdowns were a savage offensive onslaught. He seems to nick it, if you can feasibly piece that footage together as 'rounds'.
I don't rank based on 'who beats who' but if two fighters are hard to seperate (and from different eras) I then move on to how formidable their skillsets were, how sucessfully each applied it against their respective opposition, and of course, the strength of the era itself.
Great find. :admin I'm in work and YouTube is blocked but I'll take a look over my Rice Krispies tomorrow...:good
Tyson - old Morrison - aids Golota - drugged Holyfield - shot Grant - **** Tua- fat Vitali - robbery I'll go with ruddock
It's a very large part of it. I'm a firm believer that you need to judge someone based on how they did against the competition at the time. In that respect, Wlad has a tremendously strong case even with his losses being bad ones.
His best wins in terms of performance were Ruddock and Golota - at the time both were very highly ranked and he blew them away. They werent his best opponents but Lewis never got an opportunity to face the big 3 (Bowe, Holy, Tyson) in the early to mid 90s. His loss to McCall in 94 is party to blame. His best win in terms of his opponent (when lewis fought him). Vitali must be up near the top.