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

Some talk, not sure if King wanted to make it. I seemed to remember more noise about Toney-Vitali, now Toney could have slipped jabs as he moved inside to work. Would have been a very interesting contest

How did he 'unify the WBC, WBO and Ring Titles' when he lost the WBO before winning the vacant WBC? The Ring title was controversially also gifted to him at the same time

It's like saying Carl Froch unified the WBC and IBF belts, overlooking his loss in the interim

 

Even though Byrd was declining in 2004 it would have been interesting to see Vitali-Byrd 2 though.

Byrd really gave Vitali serious problems in the first fight.

But then again why fight low reward/tricky southpaw if you can fight Danny "Tyson's Conqueror" Williams on HBO-PPV?

Who would've thought it would end up being a financial disaster for HBO?

True.

It's funny how people's opinions change/how they forget things.

Vitali-Toney was considered as a very competitive fight back then.

Many fans favoured Toney's superior skills and many fans favoured Vitali's height and awkwardness.

 

Byrd was a decent boxer with zero power above 200 pounds...... I'm not sure what Byrd grossed in dollars while IBF champ, but I heard through the grapevine he was very under-paid according to his staff..... Why is that? Cuz he couldn't attract flies to most of his fights on his name alone.... Still, he had skill and talent to box...

Again, Byrd was behind on points against an injured V.K. in 2000...

MR.BILL

 

Nothing like that at all. Sanders had the wbo belt.

 

Byrd was performing at a pretty low level by this stage, you could easily score Golota and Oquendo fights against him, not sure if you saw them?

Toney was the 1 that could have possibly exposed Vitali's short comings. A skill level above Byrd

Toney snapped his achilles too that did him in although he then beat Ruiz and tested positive for nandrolone, the steroid choice of ******s who want to get caught. I had a minor achilles tear 9months ago, still struggling back to jogging, not that Toney would be too bothered about such exercise

Not sure how I forgot that 1 atsch

 

Yeah, I've seen them - McCline fight was pretty bad too.

Holyfield fight was the last time Byrd looked prime.

To be honest, I don't think Byrd would have beaten Vitali in 2004.

But Danny Williams was clearly not in Vitali's class.
Even though Williams was a brave fighter.

Actually Toney snapped his achilles after Holyfield fight when he was preparing for McCline fight (would have been fun to watch - height disparity).

He looked very good against Booker for 1 round and then he injured his arm.

Booker fight was the last time Toney looked in shape/was seriuosly prepared.

He fought with that arm injury against Ruiz too.

He probably says: "Jogging is for ***s" nowadays or something like that.

 

TBH I used to hate Byrd as much as Ruiz

I'll say Danny could have been world class, he had more raw talent than Ruiz, Byrd and hit like a ton of bricks. Just no dedication.

To be honest my time line is a bit of a blur. The Achilles and the ban did him in. I wish he had someone to advice him to cycle his gear to beat the tests. I do think certain styles would have seen him fail ultimately, others he would have figured out

Another case of 'if only he was dedicated'. At least there's the classic quote 'if I took steroids, I can't be a very good advertisement for them'

 

Me too!

What are the best Williams' performances in your opinion?

 

Potter! No arm and did the job!

But watch him against Sinan Sam...distressing :-(

 

Tyson despite Tyson's knee being done. The fights below were prior to that when he was in shape (couldn't find the 3 Sprott fights in full). Fun fact against Tyson he turned down money for advertising space on the under side of his boots

I'm a bit biased to be fair and he never really got himself really sharp or in shape. Supposedly against Sinal Sam he was suffering from shingles. His heart was never 100% in boxing and it was more his dad's dream than his

Meehan

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozA65ZmFJbE[/ame]

Francis

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZCd6-1oz3w[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9ShZeB8X4U[/ame]

Sprot 1

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPUunr_aF-k[/ame]

Tyson - Tyson's knee goes and he quits pretty much but I still don't think many fighters in '04 back that Tyson up and stop him

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTQY-B6m_4g[/ame]

 

In terms of achievements it is difficult to call him ATG. He fought in generally weak era, and when old champions (like Holy or Tyson) were still not completely shot he preferred to feast on complete nobodies instead.

After the comeback he was trying harder, but at this time it was nearly impossible to get a decent opponent - there were not many of them in the first place, and the good part of them was not willing to risk the "0". On top of that the rest had to be divided between him and Wlad.

I may easily agree his size and awkward style alone would make him difficult opponent for majority ATG's, but that is not exactly what makes you an ATG.

 

Thanks, mate.

Always liked Meehan fight.

Williams actually looks better than I remember him being.

Do you remember the second Sprott fight, PP?

Williams was punching Sprott to the balls, Sprott started complaining to the referee and Williams brutally knocked him out!:nut

I've seen it.

Crazy stuff!

 

No, beating Moorer to become oldest HW champion in history, Briggs (Yes, the one 15 years younger), and giving Holyfield a tough fight is greater in my opinion than Vitali's mediocre depth. Although, as I look at it now I suppose it's better than I may have initially thought too.

 

Hard to say really. He did beat everyone in front of him but most will say his era was weak for heavyweight boxing. He's maybe top 20 material for me.

 

Hall of fame for sure, but skill doesn't get you in the hall, fame does, just ask Stallone. Other than being in great shape and usually half a foot taller and 30 lbs heavier than his opponents I didn't see much skill. He never rematched his losses and went life and death with one of the few fighters that was close to his size. Top 30 atg maybe. oh yeah, tko 6:|