Ali and Holmes would have schooled him IMO but the other ATG's would have had a relatively tough fight against Vitali Beyond fantasy H2H's his resume is pretty bad, beat up a lot of tier 3 HW's, lost to the worst version of Lennox Lewis we ever saw and of course there's the Byrd quit job which in hindsight looks even worse when you consider that Byrd only a year previous had been flattened by Ibeabuchi, there's no reason when you take into account the size and power difference that Vitali shouldn't have done similar. Talented, big HW with a bad resume and lost to his 2 best opponents who weren't really all that good I've never understood the robotic tag either, think a lot of people just repeat what they've seen other posters say. Vitali had a methodical, unorthodox style but robotic ?? Nah
he fought 95% of bums. Against his best opponents (Lewis, Byrd) he lost, did not even go the distance.
Bowe went 43-1 in his career. 40-1 If you don’t include those 3 horrible comeback fights after a 10 year retirement. V. Klitschko went 45-2 in his career. Bowe clearly has the best win over Evander Holyfield. However outside of that win, his resume is light. Especially for the era he fought in. He didn’t fight Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Mercer, Morrison and a host of other good early to mid 90s heavyweights. Also I believe he deserved to be disqualified against Mathis Jr, I felt he was lucky to have that verdict overturned into a No contest. Golota also pasted him twice in fights that can hardly be viewed as good wins for Bowe. Bowe avoided punchers and missed So many quality fighters. Vitali, fought and lost to the two best fighters he faced. Byrd and Lewis. He was ahead in both contests. Hardly bad performances on his part. His best win trails Bowe’s best by a considerable margin. However, his resume is deeper. He also faced more dangerous punchers - He defeated Sanders, Peter, was up on Lewis. Fought top guys like Adamek, Gomez, Chisora, Arreola. If Bowe has done a little more outside of Holyfield - I would have him ahead as I have it I have him just behind.
He has his weaknesses like any other fighter. And I wouldn’t call him an ATG. But he has some attributes which would make him a tough match for a lot of named people. He has a solid chin. He’s not a power hitter but he CAN punch. He has height and reach over a lot of men. His outside fighting game isn’t pretty but it’s effective against most foes. And he has the stamina to go the distance while maintaining a reasonable work rate. That’s a lot.
He lacked experience when he fought an aging, heavy, but still formidable Lennox Lewis. Vitali had no experience fighting at that level, let's be honest. He did very well. I think he's an ATG. How high, I don't know, but he was great.
The only reason Vitali is not considered the ATG is because he would not fight his brother. Everyone already knows Wlad is easy top 10, but Vitali would beat him down during sparring sessions, and common opponents all rated Vitali the better fighter. Vitali was a born fighter - but had made a promise to his mother to never fight his brother. Had they fought, Vitali would have won, and held the title even longer than his brother. No one would be questioning his status at that point. He is overlooked mainly for that reason. He already had the Kickboxing belt, and beat his brother on the regular, and had been fighting so long he has some wear and tear. I think he had done so much already he just did not want to take his brothers thunder away by whipping him too. Vitali, is rightly rated lower all time because he refused to unify against Wlad. He was content with all the other victories and belts, and to avenge anyone that beat his brother. Vitali was a machine and one of the best fighters we have ever seen. H2H I have him as the best all time, but rated on accomplishments, he is only top 15-20 and Wlad is way above him. But, that is the official rankings - just not the full truth. Had he wanted to, VK could have locked up a top 5 rating easily.
That makes no sense. If you want to say he wasn't great because he didn't have the competition to prove it against, sure. But to pick the Lennox fight as what proves to you he wasn't great, an unlucky cut loss to a past it but still formidable top ATG, tells me you simply have something personal against him. Nothing about a fight like that is proof a fighter isn't great. So Leonard losing to a past it Duran above his best weight in a toe to toe fight proves he wasn't great? He actually outright lost to the guy, it wasn't an unlucky cut loss. No, Leonard had the chance to prove he was great because there were better fighters to do it against and Duran didn't retire right after. I guess Canelo isn't great either for losing to Mayweather. Both Leonard and Duran lost to smaller, past it guys. Both had better competition to prove themselves later on.
What a silly comparison. Leonard has beaten legends man, who the **** has Vitali beaten. Lewis was there for the taken, old and out of shape. The conditions for the upset were there but Vitali blew it. The passing of the torch did not happen. He is not great
Well, going by some of the posters the last couple days ... I'm guessing Vitali was no match for Jesse Ferguson or Ray Mercer ... Because they have taken on God-like super powers for some reason toward the end of this week. (LOL)
