That's a bold statement. He was much larger/greater than both. Remember, Valuev was pretty much Joe Louis with a stronger chin, better height, weight and reach and he could speak fluent Russian and write poetry.
I think one more big win, we have to start talking about him. He gets penalized for his underachieving with so much freakish natural talent. It's like watching SRR toil for years without getting the welterweight title. He'd still be great but you'd have to assume laziness given his natural gifts. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know.
Can you imagine if Joe Louis were like that? If he were the dominant champ PLUS a da Vinci like figure? Did you know Valuev invented the first self-cleaning colostomy bags for the blind?
1. Muhammad Ali 2. Joe Louis 3. Evander Holyfield 4. George Foreman 5. Larry Holmes 6. Rocky Marciano 7. Sonny Liston 8. Joe Frazier 9. Jack Johnson 10. Jack Dempsey 11. Ezzard Charles 12. James J. Jeffries 13. Jersey Joe Walcott 14. Mike Tyson 15. Gene Tunney 16. Harry Wills 17. Sam Langford 18. John L. Sullivan 19. Max Schmeling 20. Max Baer
It is such a great pleasure to find intellectually enlightened people on this forum from time to time. Someone with a nuanced understanding of pugilism. I must say.
fights 21-30 #21 Ricardo Kennedy record 14-6 6 ft 3 226 once again, opponent on 3 fight losing streak all by KO :good #22 Mario Schiesser record 36-3-1 6 ft 1 224 including Vitali, he loses next 6 of 9 fights. The 3 he did win, a guy making pro debut,a guy 0-9, and a 3 win 12 loss guy #23 Francesco Spinelli record 19-4 6 ft 6 234 this guy is really pathetic, his record looked ok...leading up to Vitali he had won 10 of 11 fights. the one fight the guy lost he was KOd by a guy with 1 pro win . the 10 guys he beat combined for 66 losses 7 out of those 10 had no more than 2 pro wins. :huh #24 Ismael Youla record 11-2 NO comment on this guy.... #25 Herbie Hide record 31-1 6 ft 2 219 Hide, nice record, aint **** on it except being ***** slapped by bowe.. hide made pro debut at 187, never a heavyweight or a threat Hide was dwarfed and looked petrified #26 Ed Mahone record 21-0-2 6 ft 3 229 very misleading record, his opponents worse than vitalis at this point mahone loses 10 of his next 13 fights :-( i know, vitali runied him #27 Obed Sullivan record 34-5-1 sullivan never beat a ranked guy and lost to Derrick jefferson, Michael Grant, Jesse Fergeson, Hassim Rahman leading up to this tkoby 2 to Vitali, then KOby1 Tua, Tkod by Oquendo and finally rounding out with a loss to a guy with 3 wins #28 Chris Byrd record 30-1 6 ft 1 210 Byrd giving up almost 7 inches and 34 pounds....shouldnt have Vitali have done an IKE to him?? we all know Vitali had an injury, but a guy his size should be able to take a chris byrd type guy out early, way before an injury #29 Timo Hoffmann record 22-0 6 ft 6 another misleading joke of a record 22 wins :good 15 of those guys had LOSING records ....how bad is Hoffman, he lost to a 40 something year old botha last year #30 Orlin Norris record 51-6 in Vitalis 30th fight, finally steps up to guy thats all of 5 foot 9 inches tall :happy 36 years old and a 53 fight vetran and former cruiserweight champ 6 years earlier adding wins and losses up now dont matter, obviously i just pointed out how misleading a record could be (see timo hoffman) so you have to look at who Vitalis opponents have beaten, who has already beat them and what they have accomplished since then, because MOST were non accomplished before hand. If a guy is 21-0 and vitali kos him , yeah thats good, but if the guy gets kod in his next 10 fights, it becomes so what win...because apparently everyone knocks him out. so after 30 fights..... :tired