While Vitali is so often criticised for not having ATG scalps on his resume, his dominance over good B - level fighters is incredible. People easily forget how even the greatest ATG's occasionally struggled against B - level opposition. No way Vitali would get floored by Braddock or Cooper, like Louis and Ali, the two greatest HW's on most people's ATG lists. No way he would struggle with an undersized Doug Jones, like Ali did. No fighter ever looked good against Vitali, that alone is an amazing fact. He cannot be rated near the best in terms of resume because he is missing those wins against an ATG, but there are aspects to his resume that are completely unique.
Don't compare Vitali to these ATG: 1) Vitali lost against an out of shape, out if prime LL. Vitali quit against Byrd. 2) Vitali has dominated the others but the competition was pretty weak.It might not be his fault but at the end, who has he beaten?
Has Lennox really looked like the better fighter in their match? A fighter can win legit on cuts without proving to be better, cuts can be caused by glancing blows, inside gloves etc. Lewis never spoke of retirement before that fight. Imagine Wladimir Klitschko would trail on the cards, win on cuts against a fighter he was suposed to beat easily and then retire, people would be all over him. Quit against Byrd to protect his career, he suffered a career threatening injury in that fight. If anything, it means that he was able to make a smart decision in a situation where most fighters would have let their ego destroy their body. Vitali would obviously beat Byrd every time without an injury.
I agree, he lacks big name wins, but his dominance over lesser opponents is incredible. If you're not world class, he'll beat the ****ing **** out of you. Hell, even if you are he still might. Williams, Sanders, Johnson, Peter, etc, all got those career ruining 8 round beatdowns. Well, Johnson's was a bit more brief because of his gross overweight.