I think Vitali's stoppage ratio is more to do with the level of opposition than straight lethal power, but also his very high workrate and very good ring generalship. I mean, sure, Vitali clearly hits harder than say, Tyson Fury or someone like that - but he's behind guys like AJ, Cooney or Bowe and definitely behind guys like Lewis, Wlad or Wilder. I suspect the reason he stopped so many people is that he was in control from round one, hit them about the head hundreds of times, and that's a good time to lie down when it's from a 6'7 250lbs monster. Other guys at other weight classes are similar imo, notably Carlos Zarate. Zarate too would break people down and force stoppages, but imo - while a bigger hitter than Vitali - a lot of it came down to being in control at all times and a hard hitter, rather than solely being a ferocious puncher.
I actually think the Byrd fight injury took a good amount off his power. I believe that was the 2nd shoulder he injured in the early part of his career. I may be wrong there. But yeah early on it seemed he sat on more of his power shots and threw with more snap. He demonstrated this in his stoppage of that dude he fought after Wlad lost to Purrity. Forgot the name of that poor soul. lol But that was a BRUTAL barrage. You could tell he was pissed.
Sanders beat one top 10 rated heavyweight his entire career. As good a man as he was outside the ring, what he accomplished inside the ring doesnt warrant HOF inclusion in my opinion.
Vitaly is hugely overrated by his fans because of his record and k0%. He was a tough guy but feasted on mostly 2nd rate opposition wearing them down with his size rather than actual ko power. That's not to say he couldn't punch, but he certainly wasnt in the same league as his brother who fought and knocked out far better fighters.
which doesn't change the fact that if they had a fight, he would have swept the ring with his younger brother...
Im not sure how you can consider that a fact with absolutely no proof to support it. Maybe he does, maybe he doesnt. What we do know for a fact is Wlad fought the best available competition and stopped better fighter much more convincingly. After that its a guessing game.
He came back and fought 30-1 Sam Peter (who's only loss was to Vlad but had Vlad down a couple of times in that fight) also SP had 2 wins over James Toney, SP beat Jameel McCline & Oleg Maskaev not too shabby Juan Carlos Gomez 44-1 - (beat Oliver McCall, Volodymyr Virchys ) Chris Areola - 27-0 - beat Travis Walker, Jameel McClime, Chazz Witherspoon Tomaz Adamek 44-1 - beat Michael Grant and Kevin McBride Odlanier Solis 17-0 - Cuban star Derek Chisora - dominant win over Derek Mahmoud Charr 21-0 Kevin Johnson 22-0-1 not bad considering what was out there and who his brother was beating - they dominated the division IMO, he fought better fighters than Larry Holmes for the most part considering what was available for both.
Yeah, except for Peter and Adamek, they were second and third tier guys. Holmes was beating better guys even after 1982 when he started to duck top contenders.
That is a really good explanation. Huge, power but V didn't have the "snap" on his punches. To a lesser extent I think Hrgovic has the same issue.
Besides former lightheavyweight Adamek he never fought any of the top Eastern Euro fighters that dominated heavyweight boxing at that time. Just because his brother beat a fighter doesnt give Vits a pass not to fight them. Let's face it, Wlad did all the legwork and Vits rode his coattails