I doubt Frazier would be as easily beaten as he was vs Foreman x2 but he'd still be on a hiding to nothing. Vitali by stoppage. No real evidence Vitali loses to anybody h2h in a clean fight minus injury.
He ate a lot of leather from a past it Ali, foreman was landing at will, and he was almost stopped by bonavena, don’t overrate his defense. How does joe respond to a much bigger man being aggressive again? Oh wait we’ve seen what happened, he got KTFO. Imagine someone much bigger than foreman being aggressive, Frazier’s style has no answer to it, he’s just not winning this fight
The Ali Frazier beat was way better than Vitali. Foreman had the perfect punch to exploit Joe's weakness - the uppercut. Foreman threw the best jabs and uppercut in the history of the division. He was also one of the strongest and most powerful. Vitali hasn't got an uppercut and he has no inside skills. . He also keeps his hands down low and has poor defence. Frazer would pound at his body. Vitali would not fight aggressive against Frazier , he would fight to keep Joe off him. Like he did against Chisora.. Vitali fights on the backfoot and throws stiff 1-2s. . That favours Fraziers come forward style of bobbing and weaving / slip and countering. Vitali never beat anybody remotely close to Frazier or never dealt with that type of defence. He missed over 700 punches against Kingpin Johnson and struggled to land a clean punch on Chris Byrd!
Vitali had problems shortening his punches in close.. He was the complete opposite in style to Foreman. This content is protected
He doesn’t need to have foreman’s style. Joe Frazier is too small to force vitali to back up, Vitali has more than enough strength to back Frazier up, and joe would just have no answer to being forced back by someone with such a huge size advantage
It's true that Vitali used a lot of arm punches, but that's cause he wanted to box and cause he threw them from all sorts of angles. I remember people praising Ali and Spinks for doing the same thing, using all sorts of angles. I can safely say Vitali hit harder than them. But against Frazier, he won't need to be elusive, he can afford to put all his weight behind his punches, cause Frazier can't hurt him.
Joe was at his peak in '71 while Vitali was a little short of true world class title fight experience in 2003. I believe Vitali improved over the years. I'll pick 1971 Smokin' Joe on points over 15 rounds in a hard encounter. His aggression and workate might just get him the win. Frazier's giving away around 8 inches in height and likely about 40 pounds in weight though, so it would be a tough matchup even for prime Joe. Even if Joe wins the first one, Vitali smokes Joe in the return imo. Vitali belongs in the discussion with these guys, no doubt.
He ate a lot of leather from Ali,,?,,,,,that big stiff Vitali ain't Ali. Vitali was over rated, Frazier lost to the greatest heavyweight of all time Ali, who he thrashed the first time they fought,,and Foreman who's a top 5 all time. Vitali lost to Byrd,,,,,and an old out of shape Lennox Lewis who TKO'ed his azz.
Vitali is too tall, too awkward and has too good of a Chin to be susceptible to a guy like Frazier. That slapping left hook Vitali threw wouldn't miss and his awkward lean back style would make it hard for Frazier to land anything meaningful.
He was winning both fights, his shoulder gave out against Byrd but he was winning every round if I remember correctly, he was also beating Lewis until it was stopped by a cut not an actual tko. Vitali was much more dangerous than the versions of Ali that fought Frazier
Right because Frazier leaned back against the ropes and moved constantly throwing jabs like Johnson and was 90% defense similar to Byrd!! Stupid ****.
Don't know why people are bringing Foreman into the equation, Vitali fights nothing like Foreman. Just because Vitali is big and strong like Foreman doesn't mean he could so what Foreman did. I mean can Foreman fight like Vitali? Obviously not they are very different fighters so using Foreman as a reason for Vitali beating Frazier is ludicrous. Foreman manhandles opponents by utilising techniques Vitali doesn't. While Vitali knows how to clinch he doesn't use it much preferring lateral movement to create space unlike Foreman who would push you off, use his gloves and forearms to re-direct opponents like a matador would vs bull to create space. Foreman's technique prevented Frazier from throwing by constantly putting him out of position and making him reset. Vitali in contrast would allow Frazier to get his shots off by backing off, he wouldn't get manhandled and smothered, he'd allow Frazier to chase and press and not be pushed back all the time like he was vs Foreman. 71 Frazier was frightening, the work rate he set and the intensity he brought was astonishing. Closest thing Vitali faced to that Frazier was Chisora who is a big Frazier fan and tries to mimic his style to some degree. But obviously Frazier is far better than Chisora. I think Frazier would be competitive as long as he can handle Vitali's power and not get blown out. But Vitali himself has good stamina, he can set a high pace and Frazier isn't Lewis, some 250lbs super heavy who will lean and push and tire Vitali out. Vitali will be in with a human buzzsaw but one who he can easily overpower in the clinches which will allow him to rest when he needs it. Vitali knows how to clinch and I think that along with his, movement, stamina and size advantage is what sees him win a competitive decision, though I wouldn't rule out Vitali stopping him.
Call me biased but I just think these old-school fighters came up in a different era. VK was a kickboxer crossover not somebody that came up in Philly gyms when the heavyweight crown was the biggest title in sports. Apples and oranges, and it would show in the ring. Just my opinion
