Louis via stoppage. He excelled vs the larger oponents and imo would be a bad style match up for Vitali. Louis would slowly break Vitali down with hard, sharp combinations to the head and body and would counter Vitali's lesser handspeed. Vitali would be stopped on his stool brutally cut up and swollen after a long night against Louis.
Not relevant if his footspeed isn't faster. And Vitali is much more fluid than the big hws Louis fight despite looking like a hippo on ice at times.
Who are all of these skillfull bigger fighters on Joe's record. I doubt Joe would land a single punch on Vitali it's a horrific style matchup.
Vitali does indeed have better footwork, but not to the point where Joe couldn't get to him. I'm fairly confident Joe could and would get to Vitali and do damage.
Louis would dismantle Klitschkos face, his speed and power would just demolish Vitali around round 8 or 9
Prime Louis could do it all. Many on here need to get an education before commenting further. Louis never had an issue landing on much bigger opponents. This is because he had trip hammer reflexes and was one of the greatest fighters ever to live. Vitali leaves his entire left side wide open and Louis would capitalize on this mistake from the very first round. When the fight is stopped Vit will look like he was put through a meat grinder. Louis KO 8.
Vitali would definitely win. Guys like Marciano, Louis, Dempsey etc all get slaughtered by the top super HW's of the last 20-30 years.
Whoever thinks Vitali would beat Louis easily has my endorsement......For psychiatric evaluation! VK never fought anyone like a prime Joe Louis while Louis fought fighters that resembled VK stylewise....and demolished them. I can see Vitali giving Joe some trouble for the first few rounds but Louis would figure him out sooner or later and really put some hurt on him. Vitali is as tough as they come but even he wouldn't be able to take the full Louis arsenal all night. Louis would also show Vitali the lost art of body punching which would lay the foundation for brutal combos upstairs. I respect Vitali but a prime Joe Louis would bring too much to the table for a fighter of Vitali's ability. After a few rough moments early on Joe begins to really get to work. Louis ko around the ninth.
Vitali fought Herbie Hide. That's about as meaningful a comparison to Louis as any of the giants Louis fought.