Heresy! He picked Wlad OK so I'm one of the guys that thinks Vitali wins. My reasons are fairly simple, and they all have to do with their respective durabilities, as you already mentioned. Not to say that Wlad wasn't durable. He was. He was in the 'ok' category of general heavyweight that can take a few solid socks to the chin without going down and who had plenty enough heart to get off the floor to come back and win the match. But Vitali is in the running for the best chin ever at heavyweight. He was as durable AF and equally, he was hard to land on. The next point has to do with their physical ability. I agree with your assessment of Wlad, but what strikes me is the degree of control he brought to his matches under Steward. He did anything and everything he could to slow the fight down and make it a measured tempo. Typically he'd chastise an over eager opponent with that cannon of a right hand, and then the opponent would play nicely and get jabbed to death. Now, there's a reason for that. Wlad's defeats to Brewster and Purrity weren't due to the other guy being so good, they were due to the other guy being so tough. Wlad threw the kitchen sink at them, all but beat them to a pulp ... but when his gas tank hit E they were still standing and he had nothing left. That's the reason Wlad was so keen in his prime to avoid firefights. I think he's one of the types that is prone to getting lactic acidosis due to sustained overexertion and a slower tempo suits him. Vitali on the other hand never gets tired and is an extremely busy fighter. He likes to stick in the pocket and throws a ton of arm punches, using body sway and footwork to avoid the incoming. His punches are not technically optimum (Wlad's are) but the benefit of them is that he can force the pace while not tiring. The question is: who gets to impose their gameplan on the other? I think Wlad is technically better but I also think that Vitali is good enough to land a lot on Wlad himself. I think that even if Wlad lands the better and harder shots, he will be forced to work at a pace he is not comfortable with and that the longer the fight goes on, the worse it is for him. It's clear from anecdotal evidence from Wlad himself that his sparring sessions with Vitali sucked and that they both came out mauled. Therefore, Vits was clearly able to land plenty on Wlad. In a fight, and not a sparring session, that damage would build up and I think the late rounds would be torrid for Wlad. Now, if I had to pick a guy to crack Vitali's chin, that guy would be Wlad. It could be that Vitali's pressure works against him and that he runs into some atomic punch that even his fabled chin can't save him from. It could be that Wlad's technical superiority is such that he is able to control even his brother to a degree that he is outboxed ... though I doubt it. Vitali is a shitty matchup for Wlad, because if he doesn't stop him, he will probably win on points. I'd pick vitali, 60-40.
