Is Vitali Klitschko the only boxing champion who has never lost more than 2 rounds

When did Liston quit? I know he fought an entire fight with a broken jaw vs Marty Marshall.

 

First Ali-fight Liston quit on his stool citing a shoulder-injury.
Pretty similar to Klitschko - Byrd.

 

Problem is, they are either inaccurate, or not relevant to the fact he's one of the greatest champs of all time. Part 1 above, so what, the hatred for the Byrd fight is some of the stupidest **** of all time. He proved his heart against Lewis. He protected his career against Byrd. Hypocrits like you pretend to feel sorry for Mago. Part 2. Not really accurate, and to the extent it is, good. His career should be defined by coming back after a 4 year layoff and beating the champ widely recognized as the best non k out there, then having 9 consecutive successful title defenses, also beating Sanders and having probably the highest rounds won percentage of all time, and the 2nd highest ko percentage, and the only top AT HW to never be knocked down. And for the people who remember him for the LL match? So, what, it was probably the best "loss" in HW history, he impressed a lot of people in a performance against another of the greatest of all time. Part 3. Most champs go out with losing, he went out distracted by trying to make his country a better place. I' agree he could have handled it better, but it doesn't impact his legacy substantially.

So deal with it troll.

 

"Super stupid", more like it. He'll be remembered for his dominant time as a HW, and unparalleled level of dominance over his opposition. He shouldn't go down as the GOAT, his career didn't quite work out that way. But he's been a more consistently dominant champ than any other HW in history, and that puts him in the top 10.

 

Yep, you got me there. Guess I wasn't thinking on that one! :nut

A few things differ though outside of that similarity. The first is Liston cleaned out the top 10 from almost top to bottom before that. Second, Liston actually faced and beat the best guy in the division to become champion (not that I think Patterson was better than Lewis or Wlad). Third, Sonny actually rematched Ali, something Vits should have done with Byrd as they were very closely ranked the next several years. Lastly...Vits quit against a guy he was much bigger than and who will in all probability never make the HOF. Liston quit (and I'm not condoning it) against arguably the greatest heavyweight ever. So in my opinion I'd say there is a bit of a difference in all the circumstances even if anyone were going to define ATG on injury. Personally that isn't how I'd define a career, by one fight. Not saying you do as I hadn't gone through the whole thread. Your post just caught my eye and in my carelessness jumped the gun before actually thinking through.

 

During his time as an active fighter there were 30 other top 10 contenders, he didn't fight 24 of them. Sorry but that not even close to top 10 material.

 

He "protected his career against Byrd"? He "proved his heart against Lewis"? I echo your sentiment - so what? It still doesn't change the fact that he quit in a fight he could easilly have won against a former middleweight losing his title in the process, with an injury very similar to the one Holyfield struggled with for 11 rounds against the same man but unlike Vitali actually finished the fight.

Whether you think Vitali made the right decision or not to quit against Byrd, whether you respect what he went on to achieve, doesn't change the fact that he still quit in a title defence against a former middleweight.

I dont feel sorry for anyone on this one. I stated an indisputable fact about something Vitali had done and asked if there was anyone else in the history of the division who did the same.

Yes, Vitali has some very impressive achievements as a heavyweight - and I personally think his defining and greatest moment was his comeback win over Peter - but you dont see much focus on those achievements from his fans or haters. Vitali's career, for the most part, seems to begin and end with his fight against Lennox Lewis. Those who support Vitali try to re-write events and claim their boy never lost and was robbed, and those who support Lewis claim Vitali was proven second-rate. The rest of his career is often ignored entirely, making the defining moment of career that one fight.

There are heavyweights who are defined by defeats. It's no slights against them really, it's just what they're remembered for. Cooper against Ali, Ruddock against Tyson, Golota against Bowe both time, etc. but they were never world champions. Does that make Vitali unique? A long reigning and successful world champion who's most notable moment was a losing effort in a fight against another world champion

The "distracted by trying to make his country a better place" bull**** is utterly bogus. Sure, that might be what he's trying to do but that does not excuse him neglecting his responsiblity as WBC Champion for 16 months on end and avoiding his mandatory for 9 months. I have said this repeatedly and I will continue to say it until I bash into the collective consiousness of all Klitschko-fanboys. Being heavilly involved in real-world politics is no excuse for holding a title hostage - it is far more a valid reason for giving the title up.

And even that does not account for the first time he strung along a mandatory for the better part of a year before retiring instead of taking the fight - he did it to Rahman in 2005. I am more fogiving of him in 2005 because he did start and end that year riddled with injuries - though what he was doing trying to get the WBC to sanction a different opponent when Rahman was committed to the Iterim Title fight is anyone's guess - but the fact remains that he spent most of that year holding up Rahman and the division, saying he would fight Rahman but pulling out claiming injury then promising to fight him in 2006 before retiring instead.

 

I'm not excusing Vitali for doing that, it was wrong, but as I said, there are worse, legacy hurting ways to go out. When your (admittedly) best point of attack Vitali is that he held a belt for too long while he was focusing on fighting for human rights, I say great. Ultimately, it is certainly nothing that history will penalize him much for.

 

Except as I explained on the other thread, realistically, at least 5 of the 9 HW'S he's defended against were effectively top 10 HW's, just not listed as such by a flawed magazine. Solis who you criticized in the other post, beat 2 former top 10 ring HW's who were still legit top 20 guys (plus was maybe the greatest HW amateur all time), Chisora had just beaten the next big thing at the time, Helenius, but was robbed the credit. People forget about that. Regardless, they were clear top 10 guys. 3 of the others, Johnson and Charr, were at least top 20, Briggs a former title holder and top 10 guy and still highly dangerous, and Sosnowski was top 25ish. That compares favorably historically. Moreover, his level of dominance is beyond anything any other champion has ever had, per this posts main thesis. He's definitely top 10, and there' no real rational argument to put him outside the top 15. I mean, you'd have to put people like Floyd Patterson above him not to have him in the top 15. Really? You're rational enough that you should be able to see that's not right. Patterson never "beat an ATG" that's so big with K haters. He took much softer defenses than Vitali, and he lost to the 2 top contenders of his time as champ (post Marciano, pre Ali). Not to mention he barely won a lot of the fights he did win, he had to pick himself off the canvass more than any champ in history. He was really the 3rd best fighter of his era at best, behind Ali and Liston. There's just no rational reason to put someone like him above Vitali, but that's exactly the type of HW you'd have to put above him if you don't have VK in or near the top 15.

 

Here's my top 20. Tell me where Vits fits in and why. I'd also be interested in your top 20.

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Hardly any, but you can start writing home about that until he's fought some top fighters and done the same.

 

Never lost more than two rounds but lost twice by TKO?

 

He lost twice. Marciano 49-0

 

Vitali has only lost by injury, never come near getting knocked out. Lennox Lewis was knocked out by Rahman, knocked out cold. Lewis was TKO'd by McCall who appeared to have a drug problem.............

 

Ali quit against Holmes and he wasn't even injured.