Are all Champions 40 and over special fighters?

yes, all champions over 40 are special fighters. all of the guys you listed achieved a lot before they turned 40, so they each must have had a special motivation to continue achieving great things at an advanced age.

hopkins is the most remarkable - he's doing it based on smarts rather than power. for me, that's more impressive. vitali is less reliant on power than the others, but he has his size. all amazing, though.

 

It also shows that if you keep your body in shape you can box at the sports highest level for a long time. It takes dedacation to do this but I don't know that it means a higher ranking.

 

So, you equate Vitali Klit with ,
Moore
Foreman
Hopkins
Fitz

??????????


In his 40's.Moore was tangling with,
no2 ranked Rinaldi
no3 ranked Durelle
Plus, ranked heavyweights.

Hopkins was facing,
Calzaghe
Pavlik
Tarver
Wright
Taylor
Pascal
all ranked , champions, or both.

Fitz was duking it out with,
Gardner
O Brien
Johnson
At 39, he took on the world champion ,[Jeffries] ,conceded 47lbs,and 12years to him ,and beat the **** out of him for 8 rfd,until his hands were smashed to pieces.





Foreman was fighting,
Holyfield
Stewart
Morrison
Moorer
Briggs, Briggs in 1997 when he was a ranked heavyweight ,not the relic Vitali met THIRTEEN YEARS LATER.

Compare the quality of this competition against that of Vitali.

Solis is unranked,a 17 fight novice, he as beaten NO ranked fighter.

Sosnowski was unranked, he had beaten NO ranked fighter.
IN fact go down Vitali's record it has no one on it who was exceptional or, very good except for a fading, disinterested Lewis ,who beat him.
You compare the aforementioned great champs to Vitali?
Who, with his brother, under their K" promotional banner , in the event of a defeat, insist on return clauses for every fight and, not only that, but also the first option which will be against the other brother in the event of the first one losing again?

YOU are delusional.

There is a reason HBO will not put on a Klitschko defence it's because ,no one outside Germany wants to see a safety first fighter go through the motions with an underserving challenger whose credentials for a title challenge are as thin as a Biafran fashion model.
Vitali Klitschko does not belong in the same town as the four champs mentioned .
The Klits dominate the worst period for quality, that the Heavyweights have endured during my lifetime, imo.

 

It's a special accomplishment, but it doesn't mean you are a special fighter. It needs to be put into context and you need to look at the level of opposition they're beating. Remember, Thulani Malinga won a world title over 40...but it came by beating Robin Reid.

Vitali Klitschko doesn't deserve to be ranked alongside Moore and Hopkins and beating Solis isn't in the same realm as beating Michael Moorer. He's dominating mediocre guys like Sosnowski, Briggs, Peter, etc.

 

Glen Johnson could also win a belt if matched correctly but I'd refrain from putting him in the league of Archie Moore and Bob Fitzsimmons.

 

depending on the era, today it's more the sub standard comp level and protection that allows true talent to stay in the game, and even most of them are much less talented than their earlier greats.

 

It's partly how a fighter looks after himself,and whether their style is made for longevity. The level of competition also counts,though. A 45 year old George Foreman did very well to get the title back,it was remarkable. He would n't have pulled it off,though,against a Muhammad Ali,Joe Frazier or a younger version of himself,it has to be said.

 

Vitali isn't a real champion is he? If he beats the Haye-Wlad winner then that would be a very good win. Foreman was a bit of lousy 40+ fighter, I'm sure at least 10 contenders of the time would have beaten him