Mike Tyson 86-88Version Vs Prime Vitali Klitschko?

I think Tyson can win this on points. He has such underrated boxing ability with his head movement, balance, agility, combination punching, body attack, timed jab and allaround speed.

 

He already beat a Vitali archetype in Tony Tucker.

 

That hand speed was effin scary.

 

For a while I had doubts but now I’m back to thinking Tyson could win . I think he had the speed and skill to slip vitalis jab and get Inside to do damage. This would be an extremely hard fight though. Vitali was durable. Strong. And he wasn’t as one dimensional as some claim

 

He beat Danny Williams who beat Mike Tyson

 

Tyson against a giant similar in abilities to Vitali:

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There isn’t a single category in which this fight is an accurate reflection of Vitali vs Tyson. Like not a single one.

 

Of course there is. Namely, the difficulty Tyson had in dealing with the dimensions of Lewis and the hassle he had with dealing with a better ranged boxer of that size. I will grant that Lewis hit harder than Vitali, but Vitali was a better boxer and tougher than Lewis. The guys that think that Tyson KOs Vitali are delusional.

 

1-) This was 2000s coke-head Tyson that was useless beyond the first round
2-) It wasn’t Lewis’ ranged boxing that was the issue, his smothering clinch and inside uppercuts were what really wore Tyson down and killed his offensive momentum, which Vitali did not have.

Im not sure if its possible for a human being to KO Vitali in a boxing match, and he was a better long range boxer than Lewis but throwing arm punches while stiffly going in a straight line won’t work against 80s Tyson, his little bro is a much better candidate for beating Tyson.

 

So that's a fair call, Vitali didn't clinch nearly as much as Wlad. But I feel he had other weapons such as his wierd rising jab that seemed to be so accurate a weapon against basically everybody he faced. His distance control was superb and his use of body sway to bait a puncher in to be countered was probably second to none.

Buster Douglas disagrees:

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There was an old picture of Tyson standing next to Vitali when Klitschko showed him around Kiev. Mike is going to be forced to never fire straight punches but be firing way up high to reach this guy. That also creates the big big issue of where do Mike's feet have to be to land on this guy?

And that Tyson foot movement and footspeed dwindles as each round goes by. And he goes off balance more as each round goes by.

A few other things that really make me like Klitschko in this..... He ends up lots of his combos with a jab. So smart. And it resets that distance he loves to operate from. Speaking of combos, something I really like that Vitali does is when he throws combos with a right hand lead and the left hook is the combo part. Extremely effective and most guys are jab and other hand 1-2. Not Vitali.

I also like Vitali with those hands down when he is way on the outside. looks vulnerable. It looks easy to hit him. But it is the exact opposite.

The foot movement. Vitali moves well clockwise and counterclockwise. And backing up. And going forwards. He does them at different times. And speaking of a Tyson matchup---if Tyson has to back up against this guy he is in big big trouble. And he has to outstep Vitali 2 or 3 to 1 & I sure do not see that working well whatsoever. Plus the fatigue factor of trying to chase this guy down.

 

Tyson by KO. Look at what an out of shape fat Lewis did.

 

That's how I'm looking at it.
The damage Lewis did in a short span, what would a peak Tyson do!

 

Once Lewis made it an inside fight he was putting it on Vitali. Stands to reason prime Tyson who was very fast and hard hitting could do some real damage if he closed the distance. However he is giving up a lot of size to a very good fighter so this is not an easy task. I don’t think he stops Vitali unless it’s a cut but he certainly would hurt him like nobody else for a few rounds.
That being said I see Vitali probably weathering it and if Mike slows down or takes too much damage getting in Klitschko should be able to take a points win.
Very close fight, I want to say Tyson but my head says Vitali UD, in a very tough fight for both men.

 

Lewis had a type of leverage to land those shots which it could be harder for Tyson because he is 5'10.