Which fight to you consider Vitali Klitschko to be in his Penultimate Prime

A six fight stretch, oddly enough including his 4 year injury retirement...
03- TKO2 Kirk Johnson
04- TKO8 Corrie Sanders
04- TKO8 Danny Williams
Long ass retirement
08- RTD8 Sam Peter
09- TKO9 Juan Carlos Gomez
09- RTD10 Chris Arreola

Or if we're picking just one fight, give me the Vitali that got TKO'd by Lennox. That performance against an ATG is the best to gauge how he'd do at his best and since it's difficult to find a single performance otherwise, I think it's the correct choice.

 

I'll go with Sam Peter and Chris Arreola.

 

The Tko loss to Lewis. Redeemed himself after quitting against Byrd and showed he could hang with the best.

 

Kirk Johnson to Danny Williams

 

You don't know what the word "penultimate" means.

If you mean "ultimate prime", then it's Vitali vs Sanders.

 

Lewis fight.

 

He probably hit his peak around the Lewis fight. He was at his best when he fought Williams. If you go with the "what could have been" then he would probably have been in his prime around 05-07, as he would have more experience and would probably not decline physically until his late 30s.
Vitali was probably at the start of his physical decline when he made his comeback.

 

Dudes here are talking out of their asses, without having even read the op's question.

I would go with something like his fight with Adamek or Briggs;
He still showed a lot of flexibility and reflexes; but ultimately he has definitely showed to be past his prime, and fighting on a level lower than the 38 y.o. Vitali was able to.

 

Herbie Hide, just prior to getting destroyed by injuries basically.

 

Definitely vs Williams.

Trouble is he hurt his back after that fight, but was misdiagnosed with a hamstring pull. Then again his doctor told him it was the knee. Finally, after almost a yr without relief, he was correctly diagnosed with a lumbar protrusion.

The f/n lower back is no joke. Fine one minute than you wanna rip your leg off the next:-(