How does Vitali Klitschko do against some of the greats?

I never said otherwise. His remaining days as the number 1 heavyweight were limited though, Lewis was clearly on the slide.

Well, he was too heavy. The figures you provide show that. 3 pounds lighter he got sparked out by Rahman.
That's 7 pounds less to the heaviest WIN of those you listed.

And the Rahman rematch, the fight where his motivation to be in scintillating shape was strongest, that's 10 pounds.

Lewis never fought heavier than the night he fought Klitschko, and I never saw him look slower. I'd seen him look just as sloppy in previous fights, but only once in the last four or five years - and that was when he lost to Rahman.

But I wasn't surprised. Going into the fight, even when Kirk Johnson was still the expected opponent, I was not expecting much from a 37 year old fighter coming off his longest career layoff, a guy who had had trouble getting "up" for certain fights, and who had been talking retirement for a while. I'm a realist.

I can only call it like I see it.

Well, I cant see how you can second guess the man himself. Obviously, he didn't feel the motivation - and probably for the reasons I've outlined.
If he had felt he had to beat this guy again, he would have attempted to do so.
Just look at Lewis's career. He did what he had to do to.

Yes. Lewis won on a TKO, he won on cuts. Some bad cuts.

Being behind on points doesn't mean much when you win by TKO at the half-way mark of a 12 rounder.

Which goes to show how long Lewis was hanging around beyond his time. Why get into a feud series with a new kid on the block who he just beat ?
There's always someone new coming along, and when you're old you're old.

Anyway, I meant a 1997 version of Lewis (the one aiming to prove dominance over the division, the one on a mission to be undisputed champ) against a 2003 Klitschko.

 

Possibly, the fight was in Germany. 120-108 after nine rounds is not unheard of over there.

 

120-108 is not a good score. Byrd won one round clean ( the last round ) and possibly another. Vitlay won 7. The best scores would be 7-1-1 for Vitali, or 7-2 for Vitali.

Remember, Vitlai was fighting with a bad shoulder from round three to finish vs a prime version of Chris Byrd. Though he lost the fight due to a RTD, I think the fight proves how dominating he could be vs a very good heavyweight but one good working arm.

 

In other news, water is wet.

 

You're right, that's really ridiculous...they only fought 9 rounds!
Yeah, I know, I'm being a smartarse

Remember Byrd took that fight on extremely short notice too, just a single week, after Razor Ruddock pulled out. Hey, noticing a pattern here...

Anyway...if Vitali had beaten Lewis in '03, I'm certain a rematch would've happened. Even a 38-year-old Lewis would've moved heaven and earth to try to avenge that. Not saying he would've won, but they would've rematched.

Winning against Vitali, even in that messy way, meant Lewis didn't quite have the same drive. Money? He's got plenty. Prestige? Been there, done that. Praise from the boxing media? You must be having a ****ing laugh.

On the other hand, how about retiring with brains intact and building a family? I should cocoa.

BTW, I was unsatisfied when Lewis was going to fight Johnson. Johnson's poor effort against Ruiz really turned me off on his abilities, and I wasn't his fiercest fan to begin with. I saw Lewis-Johnson as a bit of a time-waster to be honest and wasn't up for it at all. Lewis-Wladimir was the one I was looking forward to, but then along came Corrie...

 

I honestly don't see why Vitali is so overrated by some.

Yeah, he was impressive physically, but his best performance was a loss against a very faded Lennox Lewis, and the argument that he was "up on the cards" at the time of the stoppage is like claiming "I was winning until he KO'd me!"

Puncher always has his chance - in this case, the puncher didn't need it. He got all the "luck" he needed by mangling Klitschko's face.

Vitali's a "coulda, woulda, shoulda". I'm suspicious over his inability to confront one Hasim Rahman, too :good

 

Agreed.

I think a healthy Vitali gives anyone trouble but he had a chance for the title- against a faded all-time great- and did not last. So, legacy-wise, he wasn't much.

 

Brittley loses to most, or all of them.