DimboHelmet, Consider the following accomplishments on retirement: 1 ) A KO% of 87.23, higher than Lewis, Foreman, Liston, Dempsey, and Tyson. Only Marciano rates slightly higher, but Rocky retired at age 32 and mostly KOd smaller and older men. Had Marciano pressed on, as Vitali did to age 41, his KO% would have dropped like a rock. At age 32, Vitalis KO% was the highest of all time among Ring Magazine champions. 2 ) The best rounds won to rounds lost ratio in the history of boxing champions. Vitali never lost more than 2 consensus rounds in the eyes of all three judges. He was never behind in a match after round 3, in his entire career. This is simply amazing. To put this in perspective, outstanding boxers such as Ali, Holmes, and Louis each lost more than 12 rounds to one man! Ali To Norton, Holmes to Spinks, and Louis to Walcott. 3 ) Vitali was the winner in 16 world title matches. Off the top of my head, only Louis, Wlad, Holmes, Ali, and Lewis can claim more. 4 ) Vitali was never floored by a punch. Only one other heavyweight champion can claim this ( McCall ). 5 ) Vitalis record has the least amount of fighters under .500 on it in the history of Ring Magazine heavyweight champions. 6 ) Vitali owns perhaps the most impressive comeback in heavyweight boxing history. Being out the game for 4+ years, then coming back in his late 30's without a warm up to not only reclaim his belt, but defend it several times beating several top 10 Ring Magazine ranked opponents along the way. Vitali is likely the best over 40 heavyweight of all time. Some say Foreman's comeback was better. Foreman lost to Morrison and Holyfield before cashing in on his punchers chance vs a chinny, and rather foolish Moorer. For Foreman, he needed 3 chances to win a world title. **It should be noted that Vitali wanted to re-match Lewis and Byrd. Byrd was controled by Don King, so that was not an easy re-match while Byrd had a belt. Lewis had his chance to re-match and opted to retire. Many wanted to see Haye vs Vitali. Haye backed out of that fight! Had Vitali re-matched Byrd, he's a likely winner. I think he would have defeated Lewis in the re-match as well, but we'll never know for sure.
You lost me on heart and determination. When Wilder appeared behind in a title defense against an undefeated champ who was 6'9" and 44 pounds heavier than he was, Wilder floored the guy hard in the final round and was a slow-reacting referee away from getting a tko win. Wilder also overcame broken hands in two title fights (including a broken hand and a torn bicep in the same fight) to successfully defend the title. Vitali, who couldn't lose on the cards, quit in a title defense against a light-hitting 6'2" 210-pound challenger and gave up his belt in the corner, even though his corner protested his decision and tried to talk him out of it. In no realm does Vitali Klitschko have more heart and determination than Deontay Wilder. None. The only two occasions where Vitali faced adversity in a fight, he lost. And Vitali didn't exactly thrive on fighting guys his size or bigger. Timo Hoffmann, who was ordinary on his best days, went 12 with Vitali. And Lewis ripped the whole side of Vitali's face off with half the fight left to go. Vitali liked short, stocky opponents who held up their gloves over their faces and stood right in front of him. Wilder is nothing like that.
Not to mention that Vitali‘s signature lean back defense only worked against small guys with a reach disadvantage, he got hit a lot by taller fighters.
Wilder is the same height as Vitali and Wilder has a four-inch reach advantage. And that reach advantage is all arms ... as Wilder doesn't have a particularly wide back. Vitali would be jabbing at air.
Yes and there‘s the point, Wilder is explosive as all hell and Vitali wasn‘t quite as athletic, he would get tagged a lot by right hands and imo Vitali didn‘t punch harder than Ortiz so it‘s not like he would KO Wilder with the first punch, that‘s absurd. It would be a great fight.
Where did you cut n paste that from Swanny? Byrd in 2000 was actually controlled by Universum , so it was very easy to make the Vitali rematch. Vitali chose Himmo Hoffman instead while he passed Byrd over to his brother. Chris Byrd didn't link up with King until 3 years later. This content is protected This content is protected
I dont think Wilder would land a lot of right hands on Vitaly. He would probably run from him with a deer caught in a headlights look. Even if he would manage to land his money punch Klitschko wouldn't even blink.
Wilder runs from nobody, that wouldn‘t happen and we all know it. How do you know that Vitali wouldn‘t blink when Wilder lands a right hand, he blinked a lot when Lewis hit him. Nobody can take multiple Wilder right hands to the head without showing damage.
The Byrd fight was an anomaly. Lewis fight displayed his heart and determination. Wilder is a sock puppet waiting to get knocked out clean
