Prime corrie sanders vs vitali

I'm quite sure that Sanders' prime is the Wladimir fight and the Wladimir fight only.

 

Sanders wasn't so out of shape. He just wasn't a thin or muscular guy. He never worked on his abs.

Prime Vitali TKO8 Prime Sanders

 

He never did roadwork

 

Whether Corrie was prime or not wasn't his major issue. Training for the fight was. A fully focused properly trained Sanders would have done a lot better in the Vitali fight than the one that showed up, that's pretty obvious. It was his terrible stamina as much as it was Vitali's recuperative skills that lost him that fight. He was huffing and puffing like mad after like the fourth round, and barely had the strength to keep his arms up. Would it have been enough to get him the win? Not sure. I doubt it. Corrie had beastly punching power and great handspeed for a big man, but he was pretty crude, and I think Vitali would have figured him out enough to take a decision or a late stoppage. Corrie would have posed a threat at any stage though.

 

He definitely stunned Vitali with that shot. Could he have done more if better prepared, his performance as a whole would have been better. He was a very hot and cold fighter though.

I think this fight underlines the fact that Vitali was never a big puncher.

 

Another story of coulda, shoulda, woulda. Yes Sanders may have performed better if he was in shape but Sanders was never really in shape, his weight always fluctuated a lot over his career.

I don't think any version of Sanders we saw would have ever beat Vitali. Vitali simply had too good a chin to be stopped by the odd hard shot, even from a puncher like Sanders. Sanders would have had to grind him down and he simply never had the stamina of the will to be able to do that.

Sanders gets wildly over rated because of his win over a then very flawed Wlad. He was basically a 3-4 round fighter, very dangerous early but always faded badly. He also had a terrible chin as shown in all his stoppage losses against Tubbs, Rahman, Vitali and Machimana.

Best Sanders could have done in better shape was last a couple more rounds before being stopped.

 

Vitali has to much chin.

 

[nonito] "I'm quite sure that Sanders' prime is the Wladimir fight and the Wladimir fight only."

I'm quite sure that you haven't watched many Sanders fights

[synthetic decay] "He was a very hot and cold fighter though."

Agreed. He simply did not fight enough. He had some fights that were real stinkers by the standards of his potential, purely due to ring rust.

[synthetic decay] "I think this fight underlines the fact that Vitali was never a big puncher."

He doesn't look like a huge puncher, true enough ... yet his KO record suggests otherwise.

[brighton bomber] "I don't think any version of Sanders we saw would have ever beat Vitali."

I disagree. When he was younger he had plenty of stamina, was an active fighter, and used to jab a hell of a lot. Granted his jab was typically used to range-find and didn't do much damage per se ... but it did rack up the points. I think that a younger Sanders had a reasonable chance of outpointing Vitali.

[brighton bomber] "He also had a terrible chin"

No. Not an epic chin like Vitali's, but he had a sturdy enough beard. The punches that Tubbs managed to land would have put 90% of heavyweights to sleep.

Maybe we ought to turn the question around ... How would current Vitali have done against 38 year old Sanders

I think that in a battle of the "old geezers", Sanders takes it

 

Sanders wasted away his prime. We only saw a glimpse of his potential in the Wlad, Rahman, and Vitali fights.

Sad for us that he essential quit on himself after the Tubbs loss, and was merely an opponent when he was brought in for Wlad and Rahman.

He was smartly passed over by Holyfield, Lewis, and Tyson, as being high risk, low reward b/c he didnt have a great following, but as he showed in the Rahman fight, he could change a fight with one well placed shot.

How's this for a poll?

Who woulda been the best had their career not been cut off or wasted?
Sanders
Ibeabuchi
Mesi

I know most folks don't rate Mesi, but he was young, had a great beard and was a ruthless body puncher with a sound offensive arsenal.

 

[chitownfightfan] "Sanders wasted away his prime."

Absolutely. Look at Francois Botha, and his resume, and what he accomplished with far less talent. Sanders beat him four times in the amateurs, knocking him out twice. Let's imagine that Sanders had a better promoter and had gotten the same opportunities ... oh, well.

[] "Sad for us that he essential quit on himself after the Tubbs loss"

I don't think that he quit on himself so much as that he never really had the fire inside that drives people to be great champions. He seemed content to stay in SA and stick with sucky promoters and fight once in a while to keep the pot boiling. But even if you look at some of the so-so fighters that he beat, you can get a flash of what might have been. Art Card, who took Holmes the distance, was given the beating of his life. Levi Billups, who went the distance with Lewis, was given a hiding. And so on.

[chitownfightfan] "was merely an opponent when he was brought in for Wlad and Rahman."

He was supposed to be a snack for Wlad, yes, but let's not forget that he was the WBU champion (yes, I know, you can stop s******ing, now) and Rahman was the challenger. I know that Sanders had had that knee injury and all, but ffs, couldn't he at least have climbed onto an exercise bike or something? Tsk.

 

still vitali for me but its no where near as easy