Did Vitali Klitschko ruin his chance to face Tyson?

You’re one of the most annoying and argumentative posters on this forum.

You ask for opinions and then argue with people who have knowledge and who were watching the sport at the time.

Stop fighting me and take onboard what I’ve said.

Shelly Finkel wasn’t putting Mike into the ring with Vitali Klitschko in the early 00’s.

Mike fought Julius Francis and Brian Neilson, before fighting Lennox in a monster pay day fight.

Mike was embroiled in many lawsuits in the late 90’s-early 00’s, and his life was a mess. He didn’t even want to fight. He only fought because he had to. He got his face tattoo when he should have been in camp etc. He wasn’t even training properly.

I’m telling you straight that nobody who had anything to do with Mike would even have considered a Vitali fight in 2000-2001.

It was a fight which wouldn’t have made any sense at the time.

 

Steve,

I believe the fight was in the works after Lewis beat Tyson. It would have been a huge pay day for both fighters.

 

Great post. Totally agree (and the 1st part of it especially)

 

Tyson would have lost to him in his prime too so it doesn't matter.

 

How was he an unproven robot?

He was up on every card against Chris Byrd before he withdrew and had surgery the following week.

Everybody knew how dangerous Vitali was.

It was a bad stylistic match up for Mike at that stage of his career.

It would never have happened.

Shelly had Mike fighting certain types of opponents on route to fighting Lennox.

You’ve asked the question, but won’t acknowledge the answers of people who were watching at the time. And you clearly weren’t watching at the time, hence your thread.

 

We’re not talking about fan perception. We’re talking about people behind the scenes. Knowledgeable promoters, managers and trainers etc.

Try and put yourself in the shoes of Shelly Finkel and the rest of Mike’s team.

Why would they have put him in with a huge, dangerous HW like Vitali, when it wouldn’t have brought even a 3rd of what the Lewis fight brought?

If you didn’t know already, boxing is a ruthless business.

Do you think he fought a domestic level British fighter by accident in Manchester?

Do you think he fought Lou Saverese in Scotland by accident?

These were carefully matched opponents that he could knock out in front of large crowds of people to sell a Lewis fight down the line.

It wouldn’t have mattered if Vitali had’ve beaten Byrd.

Shelly Finkel wouldn’t have pursued that fight for Mike in 2000-2001.

 

What on earth are you talking about?

Vitali had beaten Hide who was a respectable fighter.

He’d won nearly every round against Byrd before he had to withdraw.

The easiest path for Mike to a title?

Ha!

What??

It would have been as hard as the Lewis fight for him.

He was a 3 round fighter who had no love for the sport.

You’re talking absolute nonsense.

You’ll just argue against whatever I say.

I’m telling you how it was back then.

Ask someone else if you don’t believe me.

Lewis was a cash out fight after carefully selected opponents.

Only a fool would have made a Tyson-Vitali fight in 2000-2001.

 

I’m not unaware of anything.

I lived through the era.

There was a valid reason why Shelly had him fight guys like Julius Francis.

I’m not going to debate with you anymore on this subject.

You are completely ignorant.

You haven’t got the response that you wanted so you’re digging your heels in.

Mike Tyson was dangerous for 3 rounds and he was fed low level guys who weren’t a big stylistic threat to him.

Fighting Lewis for huge money was always the goal.

Vitali would have smashed him up in 2001.

If you don’t agree with what I’ve written then go and debate someone else who lived through the era.

Boxing is a business. If you were a businessman and Mike was your fighter with a potential fight against Lennox on the horizon, you wouldn’t have considered Vitali as an opponent for even a second.

He fought a European level HW in the U.K. in order to look good against the casuals.

Vitali didn’t ruin his chances to fight Mike.

He never had any chance of fighting him back then.

You have now been told the same thing by 2 other posters.

You asked the question, and 3 posters have answered you.

The thread has now reached it’s conclusion.