Vitali is completely wrong for Louis, Louis is a legend but Vitali would be too accurate and would stop him in the late rounds with accumulation...
I’m one of those that thinks despite his overall weak resume, Vitaly is a head-to-head nightmare for most heavyweights in history. But Joe Louis is not one of the “most” in this case. Joe will handle Vitaly like he handled Schmeling in their rematch. Probably not as quick, but before the 6th round.
Too bad he wasn't a H2H nightmare for the actual heavywieghts he fought, losing 2 out of 4 his biggest fights and not proving himself enough.
Vitali was 15-2 in title fights you kind of have to look at the whole picture there. And in his 2 losses he was still competitive it's not like he got completely outclassed. He gonna beat everybody easily but it's plausible to claim he has the tools trouble a lot of great heavyweights. If they the post said he would destroy them all that would be a different implication of course.
WBO wasn't a legit title at the time. Also, who were these title fights against? Exactly. He's only 7-2 against Top 10 competition.
We know the names resume wasn't the best relatively speaking of course that's known but I was adding some context there that I think your post also undersells him slightly.
I think Louis takes this. He's the same size as Byrd and has an ATG jab. Would have the best combination of speed and power of anyone Vitali's faced. Has stamina to match Vitali. Vitali doesn't hit that hard for his size at all due to his arm punching and he doesn't have particularly fast hands either. I think his grappling might be difficult for Louis to navigate but I can't really think of anything that stands out that screams insurmountable on Joe's part. Can't knock Vitali out but he doesn't need to.
VK’s professional record was 45 and 2, with 41 wins by KO. In the two fights that he lost he was ahead on both of the scorecards at the time the fights were stopped due to his injuries. That’s pretty nightmarish, bud. On top of that, he was never down in his career (that I remember but I haven’t checked). That is a very impressive stat for a heavyweight with damn near 50 fights and being legitimately one of the top two heavyweights for as long as he was. I clearly wrote that his resume is relatively weak, but that I think he would be a nightmare for most heavyweights in history. I didn’t imply he was the best, or even one of the best, or would beat past greats, just that he’d be a helluva tough out. I even clearly wrote that Louis stops him before the 6th round. Go be a snide, smartboi somewhere else. But before you do, list 10 heavyweights in history that would have an easy night with VK. I’ll spot you Louis and Liston, so just list another 8.
The Uppercut Lennox landed on Vitali would look like child's play compared to the **** JL would pull up with on fight night
Lewis had more leverage to land it. He also had to rough Vitali up close in clinches and take a beating himself.
