Is Vitali underrated or overrated

Never said he had an overrated resume. I do rank him over AJ. Neither of which are relevant to my point but you keep bringing them up so there you go.


my point is that when talking about a boxer's top 3 best wins it makes no sense to mention stoppage or KO losses. We weren't talking about best performances, we are talking about top 3 WINS. When talking about Billy Conn's top 3 wins would you say the first Louis fight? I hope not.

 

But this wasn't about resume it was specifically a response to someone mentioning Chisora being a top 3 win for Vitali. Yes when discussing overall resume there a lot factors including the ones you said. But this was about top 3 wins, where only wins should be considered.

 

I'd say a bit overrated overall he had the chance to take the mantle from the aging Lennox Lewis and failed to do so, his resume is also not that impressive overall either to be frank.

On the plus side Vitali barely lost any rounds in his entire career and did look very dominant beating B class Heavyweights, he has the size and durability to possibly be a threat to most Heavyweights H2H.

 

You're all wrong.

 

Except the ones who are right...but for all the wrong reasons.

 

I think you hit is on the head more or less in the last sentence.

 

His head and upper body movement was better, along with his judgement of distance which is why at times he could fight with his hands down by his side.

His lateral movement was better than Wlad's too. Just watch and compare their fights with Peter. Wlad backed to the ropes more often, forced to clinch, Vitali in contrast due to his constant lateral movement was able keep Peter in the centre of the ring and rarely needed to clinch because Peter couldn't get in position to throw.

Vitali is a better counter puncher, even utilising pull counters like Mayweather, something you would never see Wlad do. Wlad's style in contrast relies on getting off first then preventing any counters from his lead via clinching and movement.

Vitali is simply a more complete fighter. He wasn't blessed with the speed and natural athleticism of Wlad so had to develop in other areas to become a better fighter. Wlad in contrast because of his natural gifts didn't need to learn some of the skills Vitali did because he could use his speed and athleticism to get away with things that Vitali had to find technical ways to overcome.

But in the end it's what you show in the ring that counts more and that's why for me Wlad ranks higher but I still believe Vitali is actually the superior of the two. They have 2 common opponents Peter and Sanders and based off those fights it's clear, along with Vitali's more complete style and durability that he's the superior actual fighter even though Wlad is the greater fighter.

 

The best HW I've seen.

No one really beat him. Lennow Lewis retired because of him and if not for that cut stoppage, was fish food. Underrated.

 

Vitali had an Iron Chin, an awkward lean back style, height and knew how to control distance between his opponent almost impeccably he would “pull back” at almost the last second and avoid a punch then fire a counter right back. Vitali would be a tough out for any heavyweight in history based on his size, style, and Chin alone. Doing what he did after 4 years out of the sport is almost unheard of.

 

How do you make polls?

 

Wlad's judgement of distance was first class, and his head movement while not as obvious as Vitali's was a lot more efficient. In his prime he rarely got hit flush because he was never in a position to be hit.

Haven't actually noticed that. I'll give it to you as you're generally an astute observer of things like this.

That's true. But does that make Wlad inferior to Vitali or just highlight the fact that the two brothers used fundamentally different strategies in their fights?

Vitali is a better all-round fighter, which I acknowledged, whereas Wlad needed to establish his groove in order to be truly effective, and fell apart if fighters could disrupt him. That was a major weakness of his towards the end of his career. He was a lot more well-rounded early on, but also prone to blowing his load and gassing if he got his tactics wrong.

They also shared a common opponent in Chris Byrd.

 

I agree with this. I never thought Vitali’s style would work against guys his size and always picked Wlad to beat him.