I have him as a top 25 heavyweight. Ahead of Bowe. Never really beaten cleanly. Was up big on Byrd (although Byrd was doing better as the fight progressed. Probably in part due to the injury) and was up on Lewis when stopped on cuts in an exciting fight. Desperately wanted the rematch. Destroyed some good fighters - Herbie Hide, Kirk Johnson. Defeated the talented Sanders coming off his best win. Defeated Peter after a 4 year absence. Dominated Adamek and Gomez Defeated some decent guys easily that are still doing well a decade later - Chisora, Arreola. No huge wins. The Lewis fight - the subject of endless debate on this site - would of landed him a top 15 ranking had he won. Resume is light for an ATG. But the evidence is there that he was legit. Wlad and Vitali ruled the division in such a dominant fashion for so long it is known as the K2 era.
Vitali was good enough to lose to a out of shape past his prime Lennox Lewis. Vitali was good enough to quit against light punching small Chris Byrd. Vitali was good enough to beat a out of shape Shannon Briggs years after Foreman and Lewis beat him and Vitali was good enough to beat a out of shape Kirk Johnson.
Stepped up twice and lost twice.............absolutely failed the pass the torch test while getting his face ripped off.
Weak resume but natural fighter with size, durability, and endurance He would give anyone problems head to head
IMHO, he needed a much better resume to be ranked very high. It's a shame, really, because I always liked him. I also liked his brother.
I think many are underrating him here. Yes he did not have the greatest competition-but this is common for many really good HWs. The fact that he dominated the vast majority of rounds against big modern HWs should be meaningful. As is his superb KO%. He had more fights than Frazier or even Lewis. And from 1999 through his last fights in 2012, the men he fought had excellent records. The 2 losses he had were "better" than Lewis losses. Since they came from legitimate injuries, not any laxity of training or effort. A huge, high volume awkward HW with a cast-iron chin. I think he has got to be at least close to top 10 all time, if not in there. Head to head? Hard not to have him somewhere in the top 5.
You need worthy feats to crack the top 10 He doesn't have any great victory over anyone ... He doesn't have a significant title reign ... And he didn't do anything unique such as becoming multiple time heavyweight champ or being the youngest or oldest heavyweight champ ... He never had any unique aura or reputation that can help his case like he seemed invincible or something ... He doesn't warrant a top 10 spot
He is the best H2H heavyweight in history, He would outright beat almost everyone except Ali, and that is 50/50 He was never down, almost never lost a round. The only Losses were via injury in fights he was winning. He stood 6 foot 7, took the best shots other super heavies could land - and did not blink. He holds the highest( or one of the highest) KO % in boxing history ( 88%). He was busy, great at in fighting and out, and had a mean streak. He was DOMINANT. Lennox was losing, and quit rather than fight him again, Byrd lost practically every round until Vitali blew out his shoulder and had to stop. Those are not WINS by beating Vitali, they were fortunate accidents. Big difference. He fought all styles, Power hitters, Boxers, Sluggers and Movers. He beat them all. Did I say he almost never lost a round? Oh, He was also the Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion as well. I cannot think of one fighter, that has the chin, the power, the physical attributes and the pedigree that Vitali has. I would favor him against everyone as he literally has no weaknesses to exploit. If you think that is not true, show me a fight he was losing........Ill wait.
But he did have some tremendous accomplishments. And you are wrong, he was a unique HW in how many rounds he won throughout all of his fights! My only quibble with Balder's excellent analyses is that you cannot throw power in their as top notch, let alone beyond any other HW... But despite being an alleged "arm puncher", he had enough technique & the size to hit hard. His results & testimony of his victims certify this. And how many HWs near his size threw & connected with so many punches? Let alone took so little, & without being an octopus. It is possible that he is correct that Vitali could be the #1 Head to Head. If not, he is easily at least top 5. It is just possible that due to length of reign & competition qualiity he falls a bit outside of the top 10. Yet if you include H2H as important in that designation, I do not see how that top 10 can be denied. I think he would have usually to always have beaten Wlad too. Again, look at the quality of fighters he faced-especially their records & how prime they often were-for his final 13 & a 1/2 years before he retired. And unlike Wlad & others, I do not see him maintaining some of his success through dirty tactics, including too much clinching. In life & what he fought for politically & in human rights + in 2 sports, he was a great fighter.
I’ve become a bigger fan as time went on. His resume isn’t good but he was clearly winning the Lewis and Byrd fights before the stoppages, people on here act like he was getting beat up. Even with the patchy resume it’s hard for me not to rate him high h2h. He had an iron chin, was very dominant, hit hard, good work rate, accurate, skilled, and had good head movement, it’s a recipe for a great h2h fighter
