If Buster Douglas beat prime Tyson, why couldn't Vitali?

He was master at controlling distance against opponents with no desire of winning or no skills (the same applies to highest KO ratio and rarely losing a round arguments). I'm not really blaming him since HW is as it is - mostly filled with blown-up cruisers, veterans of XX century, or prospects who are continously "not ready" for a challenge, just trying to put this into perspective.

Anyway, against still crude Chisora he looked far from spectacular. Granted, he is getting old now, but also Chisora is nowhere close to Tyson.

 

Vitali, Lewis and Wlad would beat any version of Tyson 8/10

It's easy to look impressive against an opponent who is acting like a poor scared kitten before even entering the ring, tough.

 

Douglas used angles, movement and a long count to beat that tyson, i dont think vitali could fight like that, and i dont see why vitali get a pass for fighting complete shite and getting stopped by the 2 best people he faced, where tyson faced some really good fighters but they get dismissed because he dominated them and blew them out! "And of course if tyson is overated so is his oppesition!"

 

Disagree. Vitali is a very different type of fighter and has an extremely effective style for his body type. Boxing textbooks weren't written for a lanky 6'8 fighter who is usually 4 - 7 inches taller than his opponents.

Prime Vitali is harder to hit than Douglas with his great reflexes, height and awkward sytle. His weird jab and angels are very difficult to prepare for, because nobody else fights like he does, even Lennox admitted he was surprised by Vitali's. The great mental strenght Douglas had when facing Tyson is somehting Vitali always has. Like Douglas, he wouldn't be intimidated, he would have the meanness and strength to bully Tyson in the ring, something he probably couldn't deal with. Besides, the only fighters who landed good punches on a prime Vitali were a 6'5 Lewis who has a better reach than Vitali, and a 6'4 southpaw Sanders. An undersized orthodox fighter with a much shorter reach, no matter how fast, would most likely not land more than he takes against Vitali.

 

I'm a fan of both Vitali and Mike and when I analyze the fight between the two I have to consider them at their best. The fight against Douglas was not Mike Tyson at his best. I also think the stereo-type that Mike was a bully and that once somebody stepped up to him he folded is also incorrect. Mike definitely was an intimidating force, but he was facing other brave professional fighters at the world level, so you can't get to the top by just being intimidating and without being tested. Mike made it to the top because he had great fundamental skills and he knew how to cut off the ring, bob and weave, and get on the inside.

I think Mike being the shorter and quicker fighter has a lot of experiences against rangier fighters. Vitali as good as he is has not faced anyone who has speed or knows how to get on the inside so I would tilt the favor in Tyson's favor, speed being the main difference.

 

Excellent take in which I probably lean towards in the end. It's fascinating to weigh it from both angles and hard to reach an objective conclusion.

 

Vitali never fought complete shite. He won 7 of 9 nine rounds with a torn rotator cuff against Byrd and outlanded Lewis 158:100 punches. Without the injuries, he obviously would have beaten Byrd and would still have had a good chance to beat Lewis. You might as well point to Tyson's loss to Danny Williams.

 

He was barely training when he was in Japan, he kept flying in and out of the country which had a phisical effect on him, he was screwing jap women which caused a decrease in testosarone levels going into the fight. He even got knocked down by some bum sparring partner! You cant tell me thats a prime tyson>?

 

Reality check, Vitali wasn't stopped by another fighter, he was stopped by:

1. a career threatening injury that still affects him today and...

2. a combination of a freak cut, blatant fouls, biased referee, doctor and venue

both fight against world class opponents, in both fights Vitali was winning.

so dont put him on the same level of Tyson who completely lost to the only 2 elite fighters he fought and got punked 3 times by 3 different nobodies.

 

TKO baby a loss is a loss, deal with it.

 

I'd like to add that Vitali and Tyson also have 5 common opponents:

Lennox Lewis, Danny Williams, Jose Ribalta, Orlin Norris, Julius Francis.

Aside from Francis whom both Vitali and Tyson took out in the 2nd, Vitali did better than Tyson against every one of them

It would have been great if Tyson hadn't lost to Williams back in 2004, then we would have a had a Vitali vs Tyson match, perhaps after the sadistic beatdown the washed up Tyson would have taken from Big Vit back then, fanboys wouldn't be making so many moronic statements like ¨Tyson KO2 lol¨today.

Tyson would probably be walking funny today, tough

 

thats tysns fault for fighting when he was past it. its still a loss no matter if he was up on the cards.

 

he fought ribilta a full 12 years later, and i dont understand how losing in the 6th is better than losing in the 8th? and it took him 8 rounds to get williams out.. nice

 

Really though?

This is worse than you claiming Tyson would lose because he wouldnt "be able to manhandle Vitali on the inside" as if that's remotely close to how he beat his opposition.
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?p=12158204#post12158204

Tyson was shot for Lewis and Williams, Ribalta was some dozen years later and who honestly gives a **** about Norris and Francis?

It's this kind of trash that has the K Bros subjected to such a wide ranging wrath of hate they dont deserve and would unlikely receive otherwise.

 

Not to mention Tyson tore up his knee in the first round of the Williams fight. Williams was getting rocked from the outset and wouldve been KOed inside three rounds by shot Tyson who had only his power left to get by on at that stage. He physically could not throw a meaningful shot after that.