How does Vitali Klitschko do against some of the greats?

Excellent assessment. Vitali H2H is often underrated, because injuries prevented him from living up to his potential. Never knocked down, never outboxed, all wins in dominant fashion, KO percentage of 92%, even against lesser opponents that is impressive. However I disagree with the idea that he was slow. A tall fighter with long arms will look slower than a short fighter, like a big plane will look slower than a small plane. Herbie Hide was certainly very fast and Vitali easily neutralized his speed.

As far as matching up to the ATG's is concerned, I believe Vitali beats undersized fighters like Frazier and Tyson, they would run into a brick wall with their pressure styles. He beats Foreman, because he is more accurate with his punches and Foreman would have difficulties with a bigger fighter he could not bully. Same for Liston. A skilled, fast fighter with a defensive gameplan like prime Ali or a carefully operating Lewis would probably be the most difficult matchup for Vitali. The version of Ali that danced around Listin would evade Vitali's punches, frustrate him and win by UD. The younger Lennox Lewis with a safety - first gameplan would probably win by UD. Vitali against either Holyfield or Bowe in their prime could look similar to the Holyfield - Bowe fights, exciting slugfests. I believe Vitali has the upper hand in this type of fights against Holy, both have equal chins, but Vitali is even bigger and stonger than Bowe.

 

I forgot Holmes, he could outbox Vitali similar to Ali.

 

Id say he would give total hell to any of the top heavys ever,id say maybe ali only would beat him for sure,but even there its not to hard to see him giving ali a great battle,i liked him,sad he kops so much crap,and to be honest that down to his ott fans at times,they talk to much for him.

 

Quitali Bitchko beats any heavyweight up until Liston.

I see him beating Johnson, Dempsey, Marciano, Patterson, Louis, etc.

 

I agree with Inchpunch's assessment on this one. Vitali, if nothing else, was one tough sob with natural tools and the knowledge of how to use them. It would take a prime Holmes or Ali to take him.

Nice MC5 avatar there, Joe.

 

Lennox Lewis was there for the taking the night he fought Klitschko.
I think the fire had gone out in Lennox.

And Vitali failed.

 

Yeah. I'm not exactly sold on VK - he had the physical tools, but he never really beat anyone that good.

 

My thoughts too.

It's a bit of speculation who "would've won", but Lewis, even at 37, was no easy opponent as a worn down and overconfident Tyson found out the hard way. Against Klitschko, Lewis was out on his feet at the end of the 2nd (great round), you can see him wobble before he goes back to his corner. Lewis still won, though.


I think VK is a bit like Tyson in the sense that he absolutely annihilates lesser opposition, but could (not saying 'would') hold up in adversity, i.e. the Lewis and Byrd fights. Well, the Byrd fight wasn't really adversity as he was winning easily, but still. And of course Tyson is much more proven against lesser and pretty good opposition, but you get the point.

I think he'd do really good, especially when the size advantage comes to sick point, but you always keep wondering "what if".

 

I would just like to say one thing about Vitali , i thought he was realy good , he was awkward and threw shots from weiird angles , most people dont bring this up , he was hitting Lennox with realy good punches from plenty of angles

 

Eh, don't think I'd say Vitali had a chin like McCall.

Excellent one, though.

 

I still dont see much reason to imagine this guy would beat any of the great heavyweights, when he lost to the only great he fought, and that great was surely not performing at his best.

I mean, yes, it's possible, but you really have to get into the realms of speculating on his potential without anything much to back it up. And you have to ignore a fair few indicators that perhaps he just couldn't cut it.

The facial cuts he got against Lewis were bad, and he was unable to finish Lewis when he needed to, the fight was bound to get stopped. Hasim Rahman knocked out a similarly lethargic Lewis with one shot. Vitali failed to do so. He failed to turn the fight around, he failed to demonstrate a "passing of the torch" from a champion who was evidently half-way to retirement. Vitali didn't prove he was worthy.

Vitali ended up on the losing end of an exciting but sloppy contest. And that's his career highlight !
To beat a prime great heavyweight I think you need to demonstrate that certain quality, a quality that would've pushed Vitali first past the finishing line against the fading-by-the-minute version of Lewis.
You cant simply put it down to "bad luck", it looked like he just wasn't quite good enough to do what he had to do.

Imagine a prime Tyson tearing into him for 12 rounds. Or Frazier, Ali, Foreman and Liston. Did Vitali ever prove he could prevail in such challenging conditions ?
The guys he beat cant even be considered close to the greats in their primes.

Corrie Sanders was the best guy he beat, and Rahman had beaten him already. Hasim Rahman beat Lennox too! Vitali's actual achievements are minimal if it can be argued that Rahman did better at the top-flight (and it CAN) , because Rahman's nothing special. I wouldn't want to back Rahman against prime greats, would you ?

Two other names who figure as among the best Vitali beat were Herbie Hide and Larry Donald. Fringe contenders.
Riddick Bowe beat the crap out of both, when they were undefeated, and it's commonly said that "Bowe beat no one outside of Holyfield", that's because Hide and Donald aren't considered as anything special.

Kirk Johnson was 260 pounds of lard, just showed up for the pay day. Vitali knocking him out was impressive, in the same way Bruno KOing Coetzee or Tua KOing Moorer were impressive. Showed he was dangerous.
Showed nothing to indicate he could deal with an all-time great.

Against Chris Byrd, Vitali got injured. We could write it off as a fluke if it wasn't for the fact that Vitali's career was cut short by numerous injury-postponements, retirements and an aborted comeback.

Put him in the ring with an all-time great and I wouldn't have much confidence in him getting through a gruelling fight without getting injured, or cut up, and having no response. He couldn't turn the situation around against Byrd any more than he did against Lewis, so against the all-time champions of champions I wouldn't fancy his chances.

Big, awkward, strong, tough, powerful - yes, he's all those things. But there have been a few of them types through history. Vitali is no pushover for anyone. But he didn't quite cut it in his own era, so I aint backing him to knock a bona fide great out of their own era.

 

I think Vitlai showed he had heart in the Lewis fight which was a challenging condition that would have made a lesser man fold. Tyson and Liston did not show this type of heart. In fact they quit or fouled unless less duress.

Frazier once had his corner save him without much protest. At stake was a historic defining rubber match vs Ali. Foreman in the minds of some was mentally beaten by Ali. Ali is Ali, but he got beat by guys like Norton, and had far more shaky moments in the ring vs guys that Vitlai would have chewed up and spit out.

It’s all how one writes it. If you go negative, then what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. I think Vitlai would be competivie vs any ATG heavyweight, and would likely beat a few more popular ATG’s.