They have dominated the heavyweight division for so long. Vitali has never been knocked down and has never even looked in serious trouble. Vitali and Wladimir are currently dominating the HW division. They are untouchable. Before he lost to Pascal, Dawson was in the top 10. How can Dawson be in their and not Wladimir? If these two guys were American, im sure they'd be number one and number two.
Wlad has a case for being #3 vitali not so much because his comp has lacked even more then wlads and he lost his biggest fights.
It's hard to accurately judge how good they really are because the heavyweight division is so bad these days. It's like Kobe Bryant and the Lakers playing against a high school basketball team.
I don't think the heavy division is that bad at all today. You have Haye (although he won't fight), Valuev, Both Klits's, Povetkin, that Cuban guy and a good few decent prospects coming up.
First of all, Wlad is being entirely overrated because he's not even as good as his own brother. The fact that Vitali is fighting a finished but still dangerous Briggs, while Wlad is fighting Vitali's leftovers in Peter says it all. And people keep talking about this top competition. Who? Chambers? You mean the small guy who stood straight up and down, squared up, right in front of Wlad, occasionaly lunging foward with right hands? What an excellent boxing display. Wlad is dominating a weak division, but if you think he is more skilled than Pac, Mayweather, Ward, Dawson, Bradley, Donaire, JMM, Bute, etc, etc...then you are a delusional. The man can barely throw an uppercut, and he typically fights guys that are at a significant physical disadvantage. I don't see how that is a proper gauge of his skills. Put him in with Vitali if you want to see where he really rates. The problem is, he'll lose by KO.
1)DIO!! 2)good analogy. his dominance places wlad in the top 10, easily. vitali, not so much yet. it's like ricardo lopez: he was the best fighter in the world (or at WORST top 5) for years in the 90s and yet i don't believe he ever made it past the bottom of the top 10, even at his peak. his division was too weak to gauge
Vitali lost against Lennox Lewis and quit against Byrd due to injury. Wlad only looses to greats like Ross Purity.
realtalk but regardless he has beaten his opponents and dominated for years. what else can the man do
Wlad has come back to beat one of those fighters though by ko. Vitali quit with injury many other greats and even domestic fighters such as danny williams have fought through 6 and 7 roiunds of agonising pain to win the bout.
In all honesty I think Vitali deserves to be rated top 10 more than Wlad. Vitali has proved that he is a true warrior, and he has been challenging and taking on any possible threat to Wlad. But if you really want to base a PFP list on longevity, and dominance, regardless of who's been dominated, I suppose you could put Wlad at #10.