So Vitali Klitschko has retired. First thoughts on his historical ranking and legacy?

Maybe top 25 is a good approximation, top 20 at a stretch. I'm not familiar enough with the guys typically listed beyond 15. Coming back and winning 11 fights in a row between ages 37 and 41 after 4 years out boosts him a lot, especially given none of the fights were even close. Some say Chisora gave him a good fight, but in fairness nobody scored the fight to Chisora or even came close to doing so. He just landed some flush shots, none of which hurt

 

i read he denied retiring..

 

Marciano's challengers scaled an average of 192,25lbs,Rocky's average weight in defences was 181.82lbs. As champion Vitali kod precisely one challenger, 224.5lbs Sosnowski.The others were technical ko's .

All of Marciano's challengers were top ten rated.

Three were former undisputed champions at heavyweight, one was undisputed light heavyweight champ

How many of Vitali's challengers were rated in the top ten?
How many had beaten a top ten rated fighter?

FORMATIBALE? Is this a new Italian superlative?:huh

 

HOF? sure .... ATG?, nope

Perhaps, time will allow a kinder assesment of his legacy, but right now I feel he narrowly gets into the top 25

 

V.K. is my # 7 man on my ATG heavyweight list.... Resume is not all that important at this time, even though V.K. has fought and beaten some damn good guys over the years... Stylewise, V.K. would be a nightmare for 93% of all heavies from 1887 to 2012....

MR.BILL

 

Mendoza,


He did. Rocky knocked out Ring Magazine # 2 rated heavyweight contender Joe Louis in 1951. Joe Louis weighed 214lb for the Marciano fight, a 35lb weight advantage on the 184lb Marciano.

 

I love the old farts and folks lost in time who keep bringing up Sammy Langford or Harry Wills...... Just too much "Would've / Could've" going on there.

V.K. is here and now in living color and kickin' ass hardcore on HBO and EPIX cable.

MR.BILL

 

I love how mendoza tries to critisize Marciano, a far greater legend than vitali, in order to boost Vitali's legacy



Vitali top 10 all time?


Wlad > Vitali

 

vitali may make top 20 when all is said and done. i'd have a bit of trouble getting him there but there's certainly an argument.

ranked higher than tunney imo, despite lacking a true signature win

 

Not one hall of famer on his resume. Lost to the 2 best guys he fought. Decent wins in a weak era but his retirement hurt him a lot and Wlad basically took over.

Top 25-30 on the HW list. Since I only consider 15 or so ATGs at the weight no he is not an ATG, but a HOF'er most certainly.

 

Despite all this HOF opponent jazzola, V.K. is the BEST of his era....... He will be inducted in New York down the road..... 'Nuff said....

MR.BILL

 

Vitali Klitschko is directly responsible for a 113 page thread in general that shows no sign of stopping. If that's not greatness I don't know what is.

 

damn straight! Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko has dominated this generation :good

 

Not top 20, but neither is Tunney. I'd say Tunney and Vitali are close and comparable in terms of ranking. If I had to make a decision between the two I'd say he's below Tunney

Right now, he's in the 21-30 range. Probably somewhere within 25-30 range. He will probably never be top 20 in my eyes. It's too much, in terms of the names in front of him. Only under an H2H criteria can anyone justify ranking him in the top 20 (Let alone top 10).