Anyone Give Norton A Chance Against Vitali??

Vital's resume is pretty weak.

 

This forum has really gone to ****.

Herbie Hide beating Ken Norton.
People talking as if Tommy Morrison was some sort of legitimate elite contender.
It won't be long before someone's saying Bruce Seldon beats prime Joe Frazier.

 

It's not his fault Lewis ran from he re-match and Haye and Valuev backed out of opportunities to face him.

These days his opposition beaten would be considered excellent. Example, Tyson Fury, the Ring Magazine / Lineal champion has just two wins over top ten opponents. Once was 39, the other 35 and looking very much like the suspected hype job his critics said he was.

• 04/01/2000 - RTD by 9 Chris Byrd (#10 at Heavyweight) - Torn shoulder, way up on the cards.
• 06/21/2003 - TKO by 6 Lennox Lewis (Champion at Heavyweight) - Cuts, up 4-2 on all cards
• 04/24/2004 - TKO8 Corrie Sanders (#3 at Heavyweight)
• 12/11/2004 - TKO8 Danny Williams (#9 at Heavyweight)
• 10/11/2008 - RTD8 Sam Peter (#2 at Heavyweight)
• 03/21/2009 - TKO9 Juan Carlos Gomez (#9 at Heavyweight)
• 09/26/2009 - RTD10 Chris Arreola (#6 at Heavyweight)
• 12/12/2009 - UD12 Kevin Johnson (#10 at Heavyweight)
• 03/19/2011 - KO1 Odlanier Solis ( #9 at Heavyweight )
• 09/10/2011 - TKO10 Tomasz Adamek (#2 at Heavyweight )
• [url]2003-12-06[/url] - Kirk Johnson TKO 2 ( #8 at heavyweight ) - Source Ring Magazine 2003 May issue
• Hide?? - Probably not, but there is a chance he was

11-2 confirmed vs top ten ring magazine opponents, with the two defeats baring injuries, not ability. The dominance in wins speaks volumes. That's who he was.

Vitali also has wins over a former lineal champion in Briggs, a WBO belt holders in Hide ( who might have been ranked as he had the WBO belt ) , I'm not sure if Vaughn Bean was ever ranked in the top ten, but he did get two lineal title shots from Moorer and Holyfield who took him the distance. Vitali knocked Bean out, and dominated him on the score cards.

As for the rest of his resume, he was raked in the top 12 pound for pound and made the hall of fame on his first try, leading his class in votes. But you say his resume is weak. Your opinion doesn't exactly match the facts.

 

Some people throw Ring-rated opponents around here like every Ring rated opponent in history was as good as any other Ring rated #10 opponent.

Anyone who says "Fury ONLY beat Wlad Klitschko and Deontay Wilder" (ignoring the fact that they were the two longest reigning and dominant heavyweight champions of the 2010s) ...

"But Vitali beat Kevin Johnson, and Juan Carlos Gomez, and Danny Williams and Tomasz Adamek... that's twice as many Ring opponents as Fury" ...

C'mon. Seriously? (LOL)

They rate who is there. And every era isn't equally as good as all the others.

And if Fury fights Wilder three times, and Wilder is rated all three times, how does that not count as three fights against Ring Rated opponents?

Are you saying fighting Danny Williams once and Kevin Johnson once is TWICE as valuable on your scorecard as fighting Deontay Wilder twice (because Wilder is one person)?

Are you saying you count fighting Wlad once and Wilder twice the same as you would fighting the Kingpin Johnson, Juan Carlos Gomez and Danny Williams?

Utter nonsense.

 

Exactly.
It's ridiculous.
People have to look at context and make a proper judgement.
How good was the field at that precise time ?
How good was that fighter ?
Was the fighter on the up and coming and/or in his prime, or just a guy who was hanging in the top 10 based on distant accomplishments, or on the clear decline ?
And .... obviously, was THE RING even anywhere near correct in their ratings anyway ??

 

Vitali by destruction.