Go onto youtube and watch the clip of him fighting Herbie Hide. There is no comparison between that Vitali, and the slow, awkward looking Vitali that we see now. And the Hide fight was NOT that long ago. Vitali now lumbers around the ring, bending into very odd positions, and apparently not having much of his former power left. I can hardly bear to watch these Vitali fights now, even though he's winning them. Please, can someone who looks, and moves like a real boxer please come onto the HW scene! i'm really starting to miss Holyfield!
Nah. Vitali never had excellent handspeed, however he has excellent TIMING. But there was nothing to time here, Kevin Johnson was a Floyd Mayweather wannabe 100% on the defensive. He covered himself up really well and never opened up for counter. So how was Vitali supposed to look? I didn't see any major difference in speed.
Wow, a Vitali fight goes the distance and now all of a sudden hes "slowed down" And even if he did slow down, he is still the second best heavyweight in the world today, and nobody comes close as proven time after time. There was nothing wrong with Vitalis performance. He fought a fighter who doesn't fight. Kingpin did more taunting than punching. Kingpin is your typical American "gangsta-cool" skumbag, i know because i used to live in New Jersey and met a lot of skumbags around that area where he is from. He never landed 1 meaningful punch. He never even threw 1 meaningful punch. Honestly what fights were you mother ****ers watching? Vitali still has at least 2 more fights left in him. First of all he Johnson was a bad opponent in the first place, but really... could you blame him for taking him on? This is his second fight in a matter of 3 months....Who else was he suppose to fight? Back to the point, there was nothing wrong with fighting Johnson being he is/was(well at least on paper) the more attractive opponent for Vitali to pursue and fight. Its not Vitalis fault Kingpin stunk the place up. Honestly, if the Swiss were skumbag people, they would of at least threw garbage at Johnson for even bringing that stink fight to thier country. Thats the second time the Swiss got shafted in a HW fight(Holy - Valuev) Every fighter in every era has a stinker of a fight. Wlad, Lewis, and even Ali himself have all had stinkers. But was it Wlad's, Lewis's, and Ali's fault? No. You just cant beat the system in a style of fighting like that, or should i say, a style of not fighting. Why do people ***** at a real champion who always comes to fight and always delivers his best? if anything, Kingpin is the one who "slowed down". That guy is a straight up skumbag who had no intention of even being in the ring, let alone fighting for a world title. He cheated us all on a potentially glorious event with his taunting and not punching style, and his wacked out **** talking on how only Holmes and Ali could of beaten him.. Vitali wasnt the problem, Kingpin was, buit its hard argueing with idiots on this forum cause its always a back and forth ramble and filled with nonsense...
I don't think he slowed down. However, I DO think this fight demonstrated something interesting...Vitali is actually a better fighter on the backfoot than going forward. On the backfoot, Vitali is great at countering and striking when an opponent is off balance, trying to reach him. However, Vitali looks more clumsy when he is moving forward, such as this fight and others in the past like against Corrie Sanders.
He look really sloppy compared to his fight against Arreola, but that's probably because Arreola was a come forward fight.
I only seen the Johnson, Peter, and Gomez fights...which were all great performances. Never got a chance to watch his fight vs. Cristobal.
:dealSame garbage.............. Klit will look old and slow at age 38 against slicksters and survivors............... If the man / opponent is willing to engage, Klit will look in top form..... See the "Arreola" fight................. Styles make fights....................... It's obvious that Johnson was there to go 12 and claim a morale victory................ Give Klit some slack and credit......... He is a winner and true champion......... :hat:thumbsup MR.BILL
Blowing out both knees, sufferring multpile back injuries, and shredding your rotator will do that to you. And yet, he has not clearly lost a single round in his four comeback fights. Vitali is a gem. I hope he hangs around for a long time adding to his legacy.
