Question to those who consider Wlad a great...

:shock: Never say that here! ESB experts will burn you in flames!:fire

 

The anti-Klitschko stuff loses more steam with every dominating win the K-Bros get.

It's good to remember how much hate Lennox Lewis used to get in the US before he retired -- now he can do no wrong. So these things have a way of turning around.

 

Really, VIT-ali sounds like something you'd order in a restaurant. And since Kenney's been saying it, I notice others have started to mimic him.

 

Hearns was stopped by lesser fighters then hagler dont forget that, also if pac felt he would be ko`d he shouldnt of laced em up so early it still happened at the end of the day.

I know what you mean when you say vitali isnt that far behind wlad but he really is.

Quitting and getting ko`d are different, Anybody can get ko`d but he came back. Vitali straihtout quit and lost his biggest fights that has great impact.

 

You answered the question yourself. Wlad has longevity as heavyweight champion. His reign may surpass Holmes in years as the top heavy if he keeps on winning. Longevity is very important in assessing a fighter's career. It is very difficult to take on fighter after top fighter year after year and keep on dominating. Look at athletically gifted fighters like Cotto losing to Margarito and Chad Dawson being defeated by an overfed supermiddleweight Jean Pascal. Very difficult to keep motivated to train at the highest level as you age and deal with fame and deal with so many fighter's different styles. Finally, I have never before seen top heavyweight contenders like Povetkin and Haye actually run from a heavyweight champion ever. Haye is not a champion. Wlad rightfully won that belt when he destroyed Chagaev who beat WBA champ Valuev.

 

i like both brothers, but vitali has a mean streak that wlad does not have

 

I think everyone knows that Vitali could have been great, but that he's clearly slowing down. His time is drawing near. Fans are simply jumping on the Wlad bandwagon. Hey, the guy could reign for another three or four years. He could retire with 15 title defenses or more. Vitali's resume is not as impressive. He did lose to Lennox he did lose to Chris Byrd. It really doesn't matter how he lost. History won't care. Fans will just see the L's. And, the rest of his resume is not as impressive. It's not bad, but he's gonna end his career with a string of stumblebums.

 

Your op is very convoluted and confusing. You go all over the place listing all the fighters Vitali fought, his iron chin, hypothetical head to head winner etc. Very poorly written. Anyway, the key is Wlad has done, actually acheived what VITALI AND SO MANY OTHER CHAMPIONS COULD NOT DO. He has dominated the heavyweight division for years now and seems to be peaking. Navel gazing about hypothetical H2H domination is for children who still engage in magical thinking.

 

Kenney was the first one I really noticed doing it here ... I think Michael Buffer says it now as well ... no Russian or Ukrainian I know says VIT-ali.

Wlad calls him Vi-TAL-i but these guys know better, I guess.

 

Not really, he is more of a typical school yard bully. See how he screams like a little girl at Lennox Lewis after losing..

And then there is the total ***** surrender to Byrd...
Mean streak...No way.
Drama queen...Big time.

 

H2H, i rate vitali higher.if both he and wlad were in their primes and they fought each other, wlad would get wiped out within 5 rounds.vitali's just too awkward and tough for him.wlad will never in his career face a fighter like a vitali, but vitali has faced a much better fighter than wlad in lennox lewis, and done very well until he had to be pulled out due to facial injury's.

wlad was stopped by fighters like purity, sanders, and brewster.wlad did gain revenge in the second brewster fight, but he was shot to bits when he did it.

vitali lost to lewis as we all know.the other, was chris byrd.vitali was beating byrd up and dominating him at the time vitali pulled out.the reason for the fight being stopped, wasn't because of byrd causing the injury, like it was in the lewis fight, but was in fact due to a shoulder injury that left him in excruciating pain.

anyone who has knowledge of vitali as a fighter, and knows what a tough MOFO he is, has to accept that the injury he sustained during the fight must of been pretty bad.he was leading on all score cards, wide.

everything wlad has, vitali has better, except for power.
vitali is a whole lot more exciting than wlad.
their opponents are quite similar.

the only thing that separates them is wlad's longevity.

vitali going H2H with the greatest heavy's in history, i would place him at 5 - 7 in the top ten list.

wlad wouldn't do as well.i place him around 20 - 25.

wlad will be placed higher on the ATG list, though.he has years to go before his career is over.if he can get fighters such as haye, povetkin, solis, and adamek on his resume, then that seals the deal.

vitali doesn't have much time left. he's 39. i think he has just over a year before he calls it a day.

 

Vitali in his prime would probably beat Wladimir in his prime, but if you're ranking fighters you have to go on what they've done, not what they might've done. Wlads' had a real solid run at the top of the division for almost 5 years now. If Vitali hadn't had to take a big chunk out of his career just when he was about to take over the division it might be different, but I'd take Wladimirs' list of accomplishments over Vitalis' right now. I wouldn't call either top 10 though, maybe 15-20.