Vitali Klitschko vs. Ike Ibeabuchi 1999

Vits had no problem fighting on 10 days notice when he was with King. Byrd "kind of sucked"? He beat Vits and hes got a much better resume winning and otherwise. Were Timo Hoffman, Norris, Puritty, Bean and Donald better? You do realize Byrd and Vits were ranked side by side for three years, correct? He couldn't have sucked that bad. I know the division was terrible but come on now.

 

I agree with NoNeck. The Byrd and Lewis fights are not comparable. Lewis was the recognized champion and was potentially on his way to losing. The fight was exciting, on prime time HBO, and was on a big stage in Los Angeles. Casual fans watched the fight, and I believe it broke HBO viewing records. I was at this fight so maybe I’m biased.

The Byrd fight was also on HBO but how many actually watched? The fight wasn’t all that exciting and the majority thought Vitali was on his way to winning a decision before it ended. I was 20 years old and watched the fight live. I had no desire to see a rematch. Correct me if I’m wrong but there was very little to no demand for a rematch. Remember, Byrd lost his next fight and had already been stopped by Ike. Years later Vitali had bigger options with bigger paydays.

Frankly, I thought Byrd was painful to watch and nobody cared. He had talent for sure, but he wasn’t appealing even to many die hard fans.

 

I was fortunate enough to attend Vitali—Sanders.

 

There was a demand when they were 2 best HWs in the world to crown the new universally recognized champion.

Vitali wasn't appealing before his Lewis fight neither.

 

Vitali was much more popular than Byrd before Lewis. His popularity doubled after the Lewis fight. This is meant to be informative since you seem unaware.

 

Vitali was so popular before Lewis that he fought obscure competition in Germany and American TV didn't even show his fights, lol. He was a side kick to Wlad back then. Byrd was fighting on prime time HBO and Showtime cards.

 

Exactly. Notice I got no answer if Byrd was better than who Vits fought instead. The Don King excuse doesnt fly because Wlad fought him and then rematched him after he had already easily beaten him. Vits didn't want the rematch after a tough break and loss, but Timo Hoffman was a better option? I dont think so. And you're right. Vits was so popular HBO wouldn't even show him.

 

It's actually fascinating how Vitali turned it all around. His phenomenon after the Lewis fight made him the more popular brother. Even when he came back in 2008, fighting second and third tier heavyweights while Wlad was fighting top competition, Vitali was still seen by some casuals as the better one, even tho Wlad clearly surpassed him at that point.

 

It really sounds like you weren’t watching boxing back then.

Vitali—Lewis was penciled in for a superfight at the end of 03 after Lewis beat Kirk Johnson. Byrd wasn’t penciled in for anything except crappy DKP cards because it was obvious that he was limited. He would’ve beaten Golota if he posed a risk to Lewis or Vitali.

 

He beat Vitali, who didn't want any parts of him, so he clearly posed a risk to him. And Lennox ducked him, so he clearly didn't want to risk it too. Lewis vs Vitali fight was on many people "fights I don't want to see" lists. Including Ring Magazine's.

 

Is that your goal to line " it really sounds like you weren't watching boxing back then"? Because it sounds like you were the one not watching boxing back then. After he quit against Byrd he was persona non grata. Nobody cared about him and HBO kicked him to the curb. So instead of redeeming himself in a rematch he fought a handful of second rate fighters in Germany. He then retired to avoid being stripped after avoiding his mandatory challenger Hasim Rahman not once, not twice, not three times but four times!!! When Rahman finally signed to fight someone else Vits tried to make a fight with Maskaev that was completely rejected by HBO. That's twice he had chances to redeem himself with HBO and the American public but chose to avoid it instead. If you didn't know this you must not have been watching boxing back then.

 

It’s interesting that you left out the back injuries, that you forgot that Byrd got a one sided ass kicking in the fight after Vitali, and that you apparently don’t use a coherent timeline. Byrd was a juicer who failed to beat Golota.

 

Ah yes the leg injury that magically traveled to his back causing four postponement. Yet as soon as Rahman signed to fight Barrett Vits magically healed enough to try and make a Maskaev fight.

So Byrd lost against Wlad, what does that have to do with Vits?

Byrd was a juicer? No, Vits was the juicer and he not only didn't fight Golota, he didn't fight any of the other top Eastern europeans of that era besides former lightheavy Adamek.

 

Adamek who stopped Golota?

Byrd who didn’t beat any top Eastern Europeans?

 

Adamek stopped ancient Golota who retired for 4 years after and never won a fight again. It was seen as a sort of a Holmes vs Ali fight in Poland.

But Adamek is one of the best wins by Vitali. He was rated as the number 2 contender by The Ring. Which shows, how weak Vitali's resume is.

He beat Vitali.