I think it could have been a dream match...much better than vitaly vs lewis; my opinion is a brutal beating of both men, a lot of blood, ... 8th round ko in favor of Ike.
You think Vit has the power to stop Ike? You clearly know **** all. Ike was a huge HW with great power, chin, good skills, great stamina. He was a level above Vitali.
No YOU clearly know **** all! Vitali dominates smaller men and and since Ike had zero footwork & was ultimately no more than a come forward's plodder with power how do you think he gets inside a prime Vitali without getting peppered on the way in by a man who is 5 inches taller and - get this - CAN ACTUALLY BOX!?! Now go peddle that brain somewhere else.....like behind a McDonald's service counter.
Ike was a slightly big HW, with decent but not huge power, good chin, normal skills, and good stamina. But he wont stop Vit at any coz!!! He want len as much as Lewis and he doesn't have as much power as Lewis. His skills and style will play a bad joke on him if he faced Vitaly.
If Ike is allowed to box 1-2 years more after Byrd fight I think he would be good enough to win. Ponysmallhorse, to say Ike had good chin and good stamina is understatement of the week. Prime Tua landed bombs for 12 rounds, and Ike not only did not go down, but had thrown enough himself to break punchstats records (which belonged to 15-rounder Ali-Frazier if I remember). Can you think of any recent HW that had better combination of stamina and chin? Some people say Ike never fought someone like Vitali. OK. But the same goes for Vitali - he never fought someone similar to Ike (please don't mention Peter). I think stamina could give Ike the win. Vitali could probably win round after round by keeping Ike on distance, the question is how long? Vitali usually looks gassed after a couple of rounds, fortunately for him his opponents are usually KO'd or worn down even worse than he. I am not sure he has enough stamina to keep Ike pressure full distance.
Ike was almost Koed in 11th. Tua hitted small amount of clean shots. 90% of power shots was left hooks and almost all of them landed on gloves.
ike was almost outboxed by tua, that tells you he isn't the most masterful boxer. so vitali by wide ud.
The battle of the 2 most Overhyped and Overrated HWs of all time, its a toss up IMO neither is as good as people make them out to be.