So this came up on my FB feed, who wins? The eastern European style standing straight up with leaning back, or the offensive peak a boo relentless style going forward?
See Tyson - Tucker with a harder fought somewhat closer fight, maybe 8-4. That's if Tyson doesn't actually get him early as Vitali would stand his ground more than guys like Tucker. It comes down to how effectively he can tie him up early.
Tyson UD (maybe SD, or MD). The fight of Mike Tyson 1988 Vs. Vitali, I see it as the 1987 fights of Mike Tyson with Tony Tucker, and James "Bonecrusher" Smith, only much more uncertain. Mike would have to do his best, but he would win in the end.
VK does not clinch and is a basic one two straight upright fighter with a good beard but paper skin with a lean back defense and no guard., once Tyson comes underneath the jab he will hook head and body, most likely a Tyson UD win but if VK decides to slug like he did with Lewis and stands his ground he is getting stopped.
Vitali outboxes him and outworks him. Tyson always came in trying to blast guys out and Vitali has one of the ATG chins in boxing. Sanders, who has longer and straighter punches than Tyson found it quite difficult to land on Vitali and likewise difficult to avoid his unorthodox blows. I fancy Mike will see the end but he's going to lose a decision, maybe a wide one.
Agreed And i doubt Tyson makes it to the finish line. He'll be eating combos all fight long and the atrrition factor will rear its head. This isn't one of those intimidated opponents Tyson steamrolled. Actually, I think Tyson gets intimidated at the referee instructions looking at the size and demeaner of this guy. Remember that picture way back when Vitali took tyson around Kiev to show him the city? he looked like a lh compared to Klitschko. Tyson has to work so hard to do anything against this guy. 2 step minimum to try and get inside---if Klitschko does not move. And klitschko is the rarest of breeds; he moves clockwise, counter clockwise, backwards and forwards. And is effective doing all. So cutting the ring off on the guy is virtually impossible. This really affects Tyson because he has to do even number of steps. Odd number and he is squared up. And Mike has to punch way up and completely change the trajectory of his punches. On a guy so good defensively anticipating punches it was almost impossible to land a combo on. I just see Tyson having to work 2 or 3x harder to do anything and his gastank will be at a quarter tank before the fifth round. After that fatigue factor, it turns into a ton of vitali arm punches from oddball angles and Tyson slowly following. Tough tough matchup and a 71 Frazier type work ethic is what is needed. and he never had that kind of conditioning. the guy with the conditioning is in the other corner.
Tyson by decision. Doesn't get it all his own way. Finishes with a swollen eye, Klitchko gets cut and shaken but never gets kd. Both men speak highly of the other afterwards
Tyson beat Jose Ribalta who was the same height as Vitali he gave Tyson the evil stare and Tyson proceeded to kick his ass. Tyson also beat plenty of tall fighters in the small ball park as Vitali's height, big tall fighters with height didn't intimidate Tyson believe you me. Vitali doesn't have a good jab Byrd parried his jab with ease and basically nullified it the whole fight, nor does Vitali have the clinching game of his brother. That's two attributes you need to beat Tyson and Vitali didn't really possess either of those things. As for Tyson's conditioning ? i never thought Tyson had any problems going the distance ? he went 12 very tough rounds with Ruddock hitting him with hard shots and Tyson never looked gassed in that fight. If anything Vitali started to get tired vs Byrd when he started missing so many punches against smaller fighter, and that's why Byrd started to take over in the 2nd half of the fight the shoulder injury and Vitali dominating every round is a myth. Vitali would have to punch down vs a highly skilled pressure fighter with very good defense, i don't see Vitali having the attributes other than height to beat Tyson. Tyson by UD for me.
Agree with this and frankly I see Tyson reaching all night to land his power punches on Klitschko and getting punished over and over by the chopping right and short little uppercuts Vitali liked to tag overstretched guys with. The guy mentioning Byrd is off track since Byrd was a much slipperier guy than Tyson, and even then Vitali was outboxing him. The problem here is that Vitali simply doesn't look as good a boxer as he is. He looks herky-jerky and ungainly. Yet when people are in there with him they have endless hassles getting a clean blow on him.
Tyson had a very good defense like Byrd and was rarely caught with more than a single shot in his prime, I don't think I'm way off track at all. Yes Byrd had a more defensive style than Tyson, but Tyson is still hard to hit for an aggressive fighter, and Vitali would have hard time hitting him frequently. Vitali outboxed Byrd early on but started to fade in the 2nd half of the fight with all the missed punches, and Byrd had Vitali backing up and was tagging him with straight left hands after 5th round in what become a competitive fight in the end. As I said Vitali doesn't have a good jab nor does he have clinching aspect like his brother, those are two big attributes which you need vs Tyson which Vitali doesn't have. His height and awkward style won't be enough.
