Should Vitali Klitschko be voted into the Hall of Fame?

How long is it after retirement that a fighter can be considered for the HOF? Is it 5 years?

I'm not a big fan of either brother but I'm certain they will both go to the HOF.

 

Not that it is the sole criterion by any means, but is there an inductee in either Hall with a weaker "Best 3 wins" than Vitali?

I'm struggling. Braddock maybe?

 

Sure - he's not the goat or anything, but he deserves to be in there.

 

Vitali is fkn ATG hw..

 

Thing is - he's beaten everyone put in front of him bar Lewis and Byrd (and only lost those fights through injury). Since he won the title he has defended it against all top contenders available. There are solid names on that list even if there are no truly great ones - you can't ask for much more, imo, than that the champion fights all takers and stays undefeated for a decade - that's hof material.

 

both are hall of famers. no doubt about it.

 

Look at the stadiums Vitali constantly fills in Germany. Of course he should.

 

I agree that dominance and longevity do count for something, and I'm not dismissing Vitali as HoF material. When you break it down though, the quality of his wins is paper thin - there's not a near-great fighter on there, never mind a truly great. So much of Vitali's claim to greatness is based on what could have happened had the Byrd and Lewis fights continued, rather than what actually did happen.

Vitali is unlucky in a sense that he was active in a very weak era, diluted even further by his brother being the other outstanding fighter. He was unable to secure his potentially defining fight (rematch with Lewis), and injuries may have deprived him of some of his best years.

Despite the mitigating circumstances, the inescapable fact is that the quality of his wins is not comparable to the greats that his supporters want to group him with.

 

Lets use timemachine and put him against Ali, Tyson, Luis, Foreman or whoever you want and see how he succeeds... ffs he only can fight fighters of his own era. Apart from two losses (both of them with injuries) he has beaten everyone put in front of him decisively. Definitely future HOF.

 

Who has he beaten of any note? His best 3 three wins are laughable and his brother takes on the harder challenges leaving him to mop up the scraps. Is there no end to the nut-huggery on this board?

 

Without a doubt.

 

He's a lock HOF'er.

 

Yes, he should be a first ballot inductee into the HOF.

However, my view of HOF's are that they should be far more selective, very few. MY HOF would have about 100 guys in it, so Vitali would not make that cut by any means.

 

Vitali will likely get in for the same reason someone like Barry McGuigan got in.

 

I personally wouldn't have McGuigan in the Hall, but to be fair he has one great (Pedroza) and two very good (Laporte, Taylor) on his resume, all of whom are more noteworthy than any of Vitali's wins.

Vitali will be inducted one day, and probably deserves it, but he will be in the lower quartile of inductees.