Better All Around Fighter: Riddick Bowe or Vitali Klitschko?

Bowe is the much better overall fighter, short prime but undeniable the better talent with a higher set of skills.

VK beat opponents which Bowe already took their 0 years earlier.

VK respects credit for his second career but nevertheless Bowe would have beaten even the unbeaten Sam Peter of the WK fight from pillar to post resulting in a stoppage.

No reasonable man would pick Byrd over prime Bowe........

Lemmie on the decline carved up VK like a Turkey on Thanks giving in a very sloppy fight.............Bowe is on a completely different level when it comes to infighting and mauling, does not run out of gas and fights 3 min a round and has the much, much better chin......the body shots alone would eventually cement VK on the spot and the proof is in the pudding, VK's face will simply not hold up to Bowe's carving and slicing ............the key to beat the K brothers is to jump on them and make them fight on instinct and deny them to think.......Lewis stopped VK, Brewster and Sanders stopped WK using this tactic, works every single time against them, fact.

 

Did Lewis jump on Vitali though? Cuts aside, I thought it was Vitali that was taking the fight to Lennox and surprising him rather than the other way round but it's been years since I last seen that fight so I could be mistaken.

 

You have it right. Lewis was very tired after the 6th round, crashed down on his stool. Vitali had plenty left and showed it the moment the doctor stropped the fight.

There was no re-match, and that was Lewis thinking he would not be as lucky the second time around.

 

There's a reason why Mr "I'm Better Than Ever" all of a sudden decided mummy was right and that he needed to stay home from school in case the bully got him after class

 

Yep, I think Lewis did say that it was his mother that convinced him not to give a rematch to Vitali.

 

Lewis talked like an active champion, said he'd give the re-match live, to the press and on his own. He also tried to make fights with other men such as Roy Jones and Kirk Johnson....hardly retired!

The moment of truth happened when the WBC ordered the re-match. Defend or lose your only belt were Lennox's options. So all that talk and hyperole meant zero. Deep down, Lennox was going to lose the re-match.

So he quickly retired. If his mom wanted him to retire and that was the reason, he would have done so much sooner, not seek matches elsewhere.

Bowe took a beating vs Golota. Vitali hits harder, fights smarter, has a better chin, and does just about everything better.

Bowe at his best was a great fighter, but the time he was great was rather short, and his manager clearly steered him away from big punchers. Let's not forget, Bowe ducked Lewis big time. No fights with Morrison, Tua,Morrer, Foreman or Ike either, though that, and the Mike Tyson match was out there for him.

 

I've always thought Bowe was overrated. His claim to fame was his trilogy with Holyfield, where he had anything but an easy time despite being the much bigger man and despite Holy repeatedly falling into the trap of fighting Bowe's fight. He then ended his career off against the similar-sized Golota who beat the jelly out of him in two performances where Bowe was alternately described as "undertrained" and "overtrained". Golota went on to achieve little of note after that, making the fights even more embarrassing.

Vitali's claim to fame wasn't flashy infighting or combinations. It was the intangibles that he brought, like a hair-fine sense of distance and an awkward ungainliness that made him seem clumsy ... until you tried to land on him, whiffed air and ate counterpunches. Vitali had a remorseless and cold intelligence in his fights, where he would systematically dismantle an opponent with hard and accurate straight shots while taking the least possible damage himself. His losses were all to injuries of some sort; he was never outboxed.

My appreciation for Vitali really began when Sanders went up against him. I knew a lot about Sanders as a result of being South African myself, and I knew that even though Corrie was at the tailend of his career, he was hitting harder than ever and that his handspeed was still formidable. I was surprised that Vitali was able to take Sanders' money punch - the counter left on an incoming target - and remain vertical. I was even more surprised to see that Vitali adjusted to make Sanders miss by the slimmest of margins for the rest of the fight while landing his own shots consistently. I'd honestly never seen Corrie miss so many shots before on such a big target.

In short: Vitali > Bowe.

 

Vitali has named Sanders as the hardest puncher he faced and stated that had Corrie landed a few more shots he would have been stopped.

 

Sanders would not even be a foot note in history without his flash in the pan KO over WK, lets get real, that guy got Ko'ed by a skinny Mike Tyson sparring partner..and stopped by B level Rahman who got waxed by about everybody worth a lick......Sanders never took fighting seriously otherwise he would have similar to Botha re located at least temporarily to the US for proper training. He had talent with fast hands fighting out of the south paw stance but that was about it, fighting is 80 % mental and 20 % physical , he never got the mental part right and consulted a shrink before the WK match.

If somebody believes that Sanders wins against Bowe than I have some Ocean front property for you in Arizona.

The best fighter VK met was a aging Lewis and he lost by TKO6.......effectively he could not take the torch from the old champ.

The best fighter Bowe beat was Holyfield, he almost stopped a prime Holyfield in the first while winning easily, lost a razor thin decision in the re match while all kind of distractions were going on and KO'ed Holy flat in the third. A even more declined Holyfield went 24 ROUNDS with a far fresher Lennox Lewis while VK got carved up in 6 with Lewis in the twilight zone . Fact.

Conclusion: Bowe's win over Holyfield , a ATG, tops anything VK has defeated in the Ring, the only fighters that stick out on his resume are Byrd and Lewis and he lost to both.

 

In the Primo thread you said you'd argue that he was better than Bowe , you just didn't know enough about him to make the case. Its not that you don't rate Bowe , its you don't like Bowe. Nothing more to it than that.

You also rank Wlad above Lewis and claimed he beat Mercer in better fashion than Lewis did. That tells one all they need to know about you.

 

Quotes, quotes, quotes.

 

Everybody talks about Vitalis toughness....Have you forgotten he quit against Byrd due to a shoulder injury? Holdyfield suffered same type of injury against Byrd, but battled on for 10 rounds..Danny Williams fought on with a arm dangling at his side because of an shoulder injury and went on to win...But Vitali quit against lightpunching small man Byrd, and everybody still talks about how tough he was...???

 

Rahman said the same. Sanders, who could not train hard for the match due to an injured foot, was inches from KO'ing Rahman.

I've heard stuff that Sanders hit harder than Tyson.

I disagree, Sanders would need more than a few shots to stop Vitali. He caught him cold in round one with a left to the side of the head. Not the easiest punch to take.

There is a reason why Tyson and Lewis often used Sanders name in the press as a possible opponent but never fought him. Too high of a risk. The purse had little to do with it. I'm pretty sure Sanders would have taken the same amount as Botha.

 

"I've never met anyone who hit as hard as Corrie Sanders.I think a COUPLE MORE PUNCHES LIKE I RECEIVED IN THE FIRST ROUND AND I THINK THE GAME IS OVER.If I didn't have the experience of my brother,[ who fought him previously,].DEFINITELY I LOSE THE FIGHT".

Strongest Puncher Strongest & Best Skills.
"Lennox Lewis is a legend, strongest fighter I fought in the ring .I never missed so many punches as against Lennox."

Best Overall ".Lewis Strongest,toughest,smartest.He's the best one". Vitali Klitschko May Issue 2017 Ring Magazine.

 

If lewis had rematched Vitali, how many rounds does that scar tissue hold up?
Same outcome.