How does Vitali fight with his hands down without getting caught?

great distance awareness, and leans his head back, comes from kickboxing background, if you watch nearly all martial artists fight like this.

further he has been hit, more hittable than his brother,he can counter better than his brother, also has iron chin

one hand is always up to block, other hand down so can quickly counter an opponent and throw an unexpected jab.

 

Pretty much what was said above.

As Manny said, he is one of the best at all time in anticipating punches.

 

He's also quite unorthodox so he does things (both offensively and defensively) which his opponents appear to have trouble anticipating.
Another thing is he throws a lot of punches form odd angles, so while the other guy's trying to get close enought to land, Vitali's already hit him.

 

He's constantly adjustíng slightly and like said, low hands are great for countering from unexpected angles. Plus it gives it just a little more snap by the small looping effect.

He clearly fights like a kickboxer/karate type fighter. Even his stance is usually in a way he can easily kick, but also move out of the way toward different directions.

 

It's pretty remarkable how well he adapted the kickboxing stance & sensibility to boxing.

Most who try it, even if they were decent to very good in kickboxing, fail. Miserably.

(Case in point: Gregory Tony, etc.)

 

Same way Ali did. With superb reflexes and if you do get caught you have an Iron Chin so it isn't an issue.

 

Height and great sense of timing. He also fights well when he has to step back. If you watch the Areola figt you see when Chris pushed him back Vitali was still able to drop shots on his head.

 

most of his opponents cant reach his head

 

Your right. Not without leaving there own chin up in the air.

 

There are many tall fighters, but not so many that tall.

I am about 5'10'', and when I was fighting opponents about 6'2''-6'3'' I still could try to make up for my size disadvantage. Depending on particular opponent, it worked with better or worse success, the point is that one could think about a gameplan(s) in such a case and it could work.

However, we had one guy who was about 6'8'' and I couldn't do literally anything against him. And his style was similar to Vitali - when I made two steps forward, he made just one backwards, adding a jab or hook when still outside my range. And when I somehow throw something that could land, he leaned his head back just a couple of inches (which was enough, since I had to punch upwards anyway and was on the edge of my reach anyway). The best I could was to land a couple of bodyshots, well, this was almost nothing compared to what I had to take first.

And that worked for him so good mainly because he was so huge... I mean, he had proper technique, was quite quick for his size and so on, but I do not think someone who was "only" 6'3'' would get away with it.

 

He is tall and his opposition is sub-par.

As I remember it, Lennox Lewis caught him. He caught him many times. So many times Vitali was at risk of losing an eye. That was the only great fighter he ever fought. I think that says it all.

 

Yeah, really, these are the main & equally vital components in why he gets away with it.

Also being very tall as pointed out.

33% height, 33% reflexes, 34% chin.

 

because he is bigger than everyone else......esb answer

 

Great footwork, height, reach and jab is my opinion.