A work in progress, how does Vitlai Klitschko rate as an ATG heavyweight?

Ali said he was blind and couldn't see during the fight, Dundee said 'Beethoven could compose without hearing and Ali could box blind'. Ali was offered a blinding agent later in his career

Now ALi wasn't blind for a few rounds only for a while, but Ali didn't know he'd get his sight back after having his eyes cleaned up.

Would you want to fight Liston, the baddest man on the planet without being able to see where his punches were coming from?

 

mendoze,

Id be interested in seeing how those punch outputs of vitalis compare with the other all time greats.

Vitali is an interesting proposition and one of the most difficult to rank in an all time list. The fact that most of his opponents are still fighting makes it nearly impossible. Presumably, Ali fans had the same problems when he was fighting (particularly after Frazier was KOd by Foreman). I am fairly sure Schmelling's legacy has improved a lot since he retired.

Being brutally honest, Vitali has never really established himself as the clear cut best fighter in the world. I think he badly needs to unify now or at the very least, beat somebody who goes on to unify. The biggest question mark is probably yet to come. How will it effect Vitali's legacy if he loses to Gomez and/or loses to one or two other fighters of similar stature. On the one hand, he is getting to an age where that is to be expected while on the other, he has never really proved himself the out and out best fighter in the world. I think that at this stage he it is too much of a work in progress to even put vitali in an ATG list.

If i had to, i would probably have him towards the lowe ends of a top 100.

 

i do not think his accomlishment is at par with other top 15 HW but it would take a long time before someone break his KO ratio record...he would be timeless just because of that record

 

In all fairness, Vitali was kicking the **** out of Byrd and handely winning that fight, when a torn rotator cuff ihibited him from continuing. Apparently the injury occured early in the fight, and it had nothing to do with Klitschko gassing nor anything Byrd did to him. In fact, Chris didn't do **** except get his ass kicked........For the record, a torn rotator cuff is not like sustaining a bee sting. It hurts like hell even when you're doing nothing, let alone partaking in an activity entirely centered around using your arms to punch, block, grab, etc...

 

Since we are putting things into all time great context, does a torn rotator cuff hurt more than the Broken Jaw ali suffered against Norton, The injuries willard tried to continue with against Dempsey, the injuries Jeffries suffered against sharkey or fitzsimmons etc

 

Legacy can be defined in a variety of ways, and if you want to define it thusly to put a biased slant on the Klitschkos' accomplishments, then hahaha joke's on you. Vitali has the highest knockouts to wins ratio? Great! But how about you think and not just look at the numbers for a change. It's not a math problem, Mendoza.

Like I said, he's a hard man to beat. He has a stand-up style that compliments his immense size. Vitali is the type of fighter who believes and practices the amateur boxing philosophy of bagging rounds, and fighting fights round by round. Boxers like Holmes and Ali liked to look at the bigger picture. In other words, they were not necessarily opposed to losing a few rounds. Now, I'm not saying that one approach is definitely better than the other because Klitschko has obviously reaped success in his own right and I acknowledge that, but I'd like to make it clear that no comparison can be made between the two. I don't think the likes of Jones, Mildenberger, or Chuvalo would ever beat Ali (or Klitschko) in twenty fights, do you?

 

Vitali's shoulder was bad going into the Byrd fight. That's why it's incredible Byrd was selected as an opponent. If you watched the Vitali Klitschko development as a pro, you could see something was wrong before the halfway point of round 1.

What is incredible is the nasty left hook the guy had before the injury is gone. How many others can have their best punch taken away and go on to any kind of successful career? He altered his style and went on to a very successful run and you can count on your thumbs the other guys that have managed similar success.

 

Did Ali or Willard go on to winning those fights? Were the types of injuries they suffered detrimental to their ability to fight back?

 

Byrd was seen as a mark as he was just KTFO in 5 by Ibeaubuchi

And Bull****, Vitali never had a decent hook he always fought the same, his brother has a great 1 though.

Although Vitali did look allot more fluid at 200lbs before he blew up on steroids

 

Vitali has lost very few rounds in his career. He has stopped every opponent he has faced except 3 (Lewis, Byrd, Hoffman)

It is a shame he lost 4 years because had he not he would have been easily able to unify all 4 belts. Nobody can lay a glove on the guy. Lewis was the only guy to land any serious punches on him.

Also factor in his Iron Chin as he has never been knocked down as a Pro Boxer.

 

:roflatsch

Tua and Ibeabuchi achieving more than Vitali Klitschko? Neither guy was able to even win an alphabet belt. That is laughable. Ruiz? atsch His fights were a complete joke. Bruno? Good lord man he got knocked out every time he fought a good fighter for christ sakes.

Some of the hate here is laughable. Vitali Klitschko is the real deal a legit fighter. Some of you need to learn to deal with that.

 

Yep Tua, Ibeabuchi, Bruno and RUiz all fought and beat better fighters than Roid Klitschko ever beat