Is Vitali really an H2H monster?

We'll never know, because he only fought a few decent opponents, and lost to two of them.

That being said, it was impressive the way he came back after being out for nearly 4 years at age 37-38 and defeated Sam Peter. And he rarely ever lost a round, and was never knocked down.

But overall, Vitali is an unproven "might have been". His brother fought and defeated the better opponents like Chagaev, Byrd x 2, Ibragimov and Haye.

 

I think he'd have beaten both Fury and AJ...

 

I think he's a H2H nightmare but like his brother isn't a P4P H2H nightmare. Both the Klitschko's were absolute nightmares for people smaller than they were as they based their defence on their superior size. Wlad with his clinching and Vitali with his lean back. But when people had the size and length to negate these advantage they became undone.

There's really no excuse for Vitali getting his face turned into mincemeat against Lewis. The fact that both McCall and Rahman did better against better versions of Lewis is a problem. If he were in the era of superheavyweights and regularly matched up with AJ, Wilder, Fury , Dubois, Ortiz, Zhang, Joyce etc I don't think he'd look as dominant.

 

Don't do that. "They're only good because they are big". It's much more than that. Much more.

 

Iron Chin, High Ring IQ, Awkward lean back style, height, good stamina - yeah he would be a hard out for anyone in history.

 

You should extend the poll, why close it so soon before many have a chance to weigh in?

 

Very good summary!
brb is correct also-coincidentally he has a similar moniker.

Now while he did not fight as many elite boxers as other ATGs, we can triangulate-with his remarkable assets-how well he is likely to have done against them.
The 2 losses were very unusual-even for him, including in his kickboxing & amateur career-he did not have a cuts stoppge any other time, the shoulder injury was a one off...

Being that big, strong awkward, using height well, great timing as you noted, his RESULTS of rarely losing rounds...
Then add in his adamite chin & high work rate, = likely a H2H Monster.

 

Even in those two fights that he lost, Vitali was better on points...

 

Prime Fury boxes him silly. What part of being unable to beat a one week notice Chris Byrd who was laying on the ropes and developing his game plan in the moment and then avoiding the rematch because he knew Byrd had figured out his predictable rudimentary style indicates he could beat Tyson Fury.

Tyson Fury who deconstructed his more technically proficient and far more dangerous brother - and had an awkward , switch hitting, zig-zag moving style that is obviously a nightmare for a straight up and down guy like Vitali to deal with. Not to mention Fury was better at range and in the pocket.
Its like people have to suddenly pretend to know nothing about boxing when it comes to Vitali.

 

Too bad he didn't use these attributes to beat anyone of significance. You can't be a H2H monster with your best wins being Corrie Sanders and Samuel Peter.

 

Wouldas don't exist tho. He didn't beat anyone close in level to these guys.

 

Or LL could have granted him a rematch. And if Wlad wasn't around you don't think he could have taken the rematch with Byrd?

 

Fury's feints would have little impact on Vitali. Vitali is as rock'em sock'em as they get and Fury doesn't have the chin to engage.