Prime Tyson vs Prime Vitali

I agree w/the posters saying that Tyson automatically loses one of his most useful tools when he fights Vitali ; intimidation. As a matter of fact, I think that Vitali turns the tables and intimidates Mike in the runup to the fight.

As for the fight itself : Why wouldn't Vitali just grab Mike every time he comes in and lay across his back til' Mike gets tired and then KO him? A prime Iron Mike will not tire quickly so maybe it takes 9 or 10 rounds, but how's Mike gonna prevent this from happenin'? It's kind of BS way to go about it, but there it is...

Imo, Mikes best and only chance is to overwhelm and flat KO Vitali very early. Like in 4.

In this mythical matchup, I'll take Vitali by late stoppage of some kind 4 out of 5 times.

 

Tucker, who could crack hard, caught Tyson with a peach of an uppercut in the opening round, his best shot of the night. Tyson absorbed it and went right back to business, wasn't stunned at all. Tucker was getting tagged when he "let his hands go" and that's why after a few rounds he chose to run and hold.

If Vitali employed a safety first approach I have no doubt he'd last the distance. But he'd lost nearly every round in the process.

 

Tyson was an absolute wrecking ball and a top 3 all time puncher at this weight. If all you had to do was clinch him to tire him out and win why couldn't Bonecrusher Smith, Tony Tucker exhaust him who were comparable in size

As you go in to clinch Tyson he nails you, his only weakness was once he was clinched he'd go limp. But even then he used no energy.

 

Doing whores the night before the fight and not training at all until shortly before fighting can take away your skills quite a bit

 

That's about how I see it too, except a bit earlier like the 8th round.

 

Neither Smith nor Tucker were as big, as smart, as good or as strong as Vitali and both were intimidated by Tyson which wouldn't be the case with Vitali.

I don't buy that Tyson doesn't get tired after 9 or 10 rounds of having a gigantor-Drago-type behemoth draped across his shoulders.

You fail to convince me...

 

Vitali has a style that would let him last the distance and give Tyson some trouble, but he won't win....

 

Smith weighed 233 against Tyson, only about 10-12 pounds less than Vitali who usually weighs in or around 245. Smith was draped all round Tyson for the entirety of their fight and Tyson showed no ill effects.

 

I think the modern era of heavyweights is clouding everyone's mind here.

The above tactic would depend on the referee and how lenient they are in terms of holding.

The other thing is that it's one thing to paw a jab and grab, its another thing to achieve that on a guy who could get as low and explode out of the crouch with power combinations like a prime Mike.

Mike had sterling lateral movement complimented with superb defensive skills and power punching combinations the likes of which not one fighter in Vitali's resume has possessed.

I mean - More than one of you are pointing to Vitali's best fight - A LOSS, LOSS(!!!) to an end of the road Lennox Lewis. That is the best fighter on Vitali's record.

I don't see one shred of evidence to suggest the skillset and firepower Tyson has, and importantly - Speed of hand and foot - That Vitali would be able to defuse.

His stand up mummy style and pawing jab just screams for short lateral movement to Tyson's right to get under the jab and land body to head combinations that would overwhelm a fighter that just hasn't had to deal with a fighter who has been trained with Mike's skillset.

On the point of intmidation, I agree that Vitali's strength of mind and will would see him through any of Tyson's hip hop bravado and I could see the grab and lean working on a post jail Tyson.

A motivated up and coming Tyson would utterly decimate Viatli with speed, power and angles of attack that Vitali just wouldn't have experience with.

Vitali's resume makes Mike's pre-jail body of work look almost Ali like in comparison.

 

Tyson would b the favorite but he struggled with the big guys. Vitali would b his biggest opponent and would show no fear of Mike. Would of been great 2 c.

 

Mike sums it up best when he fought Lewis and said something after the fight to the likes of "he is too big, too strong".

Vitali's bigger and stronger than Lewis. Not that that alone wins a fight, but it is cliche "A good tall fighter will always beat a good short fighter"

Vitali by late round TKO IMO.

 

Vitali after 3 years of inactivity jajaja

 

Except not always that flows off our tounge to easy

 

I mean obviously it's a tough fight to predict, but when I saw the video of Vitali and Mike walking together in some country I was like "damn he is towering over him"

After a certain point you have to take size into consideration and styles.

Vitali is 6'8 250
Mike is 5'11 215

Combine that with Vitali having a great chin and a good jab and I think it's a tough one for Mike.

 

I was watching some videos of Vitali the other day and he has a very interesting style for a big heaveyweight. He fights more like a "normal" sized boxer as opoesed to a big one. By that I mean that he dose not try to impose his size which is acatuly the worst thing the bigger man can do in a boxing ring. He also dose not Use the hit and run/jab and grab. Use the jab and circle his opoent style that is best for the bigger man to use. He is within his opoents punching rang but uses body movement to avoide punches. It also helps that he has a very good chin. This style I beleve is a reason he has such high Knockout rate 35/36 wins by KO.
The best style to beat Tyson at his best is the Jab and grab method that Holmes was somewhat effictive with till he got caught and that Douglas beat him with.
based on styles the most important question to be asked is Vitali fast enough to avoide Tyson's punches? I think Vtali is deceptivly fast but not fast enough to avoide Tyson's punches. The next question is Tyson fast enough to avoide Vitali's punches? I think he is. The third question is Vitali's chin strong enough to keep him upright through the fight? I think it is.
I like Tyson by decision maby lat round stopage. I think Vtali may even win some of the early rounds but I would expect this to be a 9-3 or 8-4 win for Tyson.