Vitali did well in disposing Gomez... but does anyone else think he's slowing down?

You´re just as good and fast as your counterpart let´s you. Hops is another example to make enemys look bad...

 

I think it was the fact that Gomez is left handed, a fast and fairly skilled boxer. That is why Vitali didn't look as impressive as he did against Peter.

Handling Gomez as he did was impressive. And with the exception of the first round, he ran the entire show, dropped him twice, and avoided most of the numerous Gomez lunging inside shots.

Not slowed, no. He was merely in with and being compared to, a much better man, today. The above post is right. THe oppponent is a big part of how a fighter looks.

 

He might slowdown abit but not by much. Imo Vitali easily destroyed a difficult southpaw fighter in Gomez is very impressive. Would a shot weak chin Barrett beat Gomez? hello no.

 

He has clearly slowed down. In both his defensive reflexes and especially his movements. That was obvious in his fight against Peter. 4 years off and a couple of surgeries is going to do that to a 37 year old.

Still an impressive win.

 

Erm, yes. He was ****ing slow. Compare him to the version that fought Lewis, the difference is night and day. It just didn't look so obvious against Fat Sam.

His timing was ****ing awful tonight too. He couldn't time his right hand, any kind of hook for ****. The only thing that seemed to work was his jab, until Gomez was completely tired and ****ed up with swelling and then he finally landed meaningful punches.

He didn't look good at all. I really wonder how he'd look with somebody like Povetkin putting a lot of pressure on him.

 

I think Gomez had a lot to do with it..but let's not discredit Pointus' point. He IS aging (I believe he's 37? 38?) and he burned a lot of his prime time with inactivity. He probably IS slowing down and losing it a bit.

Question remains though, Is there a fighter who can catch Vitali on the slide before he retires?

 

I think the Southpaw stance was what threw him off the most. Gomez is a skilled boxer, he wasnt undeserving of the title shot.

Klitschko got to him in the end, imposed his will. It was a sloppy fight, but then Gomez is hard to look good against, and he had thoroughly outclassed Virchis and McCall, made them look bad.

He has aged, not as quick as he was in 2003, but as far as him being an old fighter, I wouldnt say so. Otherwise I attribute tonight to the awkwardness of fighting a Southpaw boxer like Gomez. He didnt look old so much as having trouble finding his range and hitting Gomez cleanly.

 

I agree. The handspeed is less and the timing seems a bit off but he's still a very skilled and powerful for a big man with a great chin. Gomez was moving most of the time too and not giving Vitali that stationary target and was very cautious most of the fight.

I thought Gomez's southpaw high-gurard defense bothered him for about 2 rounds then Vitali just starting grinding Gomez down. Vitali is so powerful even the partial blows did damage. I thought the clinching took a lot of Gomez as well.

I think Wlad is the only one who could potentially beat him due to his length, faster hands, jab and movement

All in all, it was a very solid performance by Vitali and hope he can get the wba trinket holder next or Haye (if the brit bottles the wlad fight)

 

I think Povetkin would have a real chance. Gomez was doing nothing special tonight when he came forward, and Vitali could not counter him at all. You could count the counters he landed on one hand. He had to rely on tieing Gomez up instantly and then jabbing from the outside.

If he struggles to time Povetkin and Povetkin can get close, hustle him, throw a lot of punches as he always does, and Vitali looks so slow and tired there is an opportunity for him.

 

I didn't see anything particularly awkward or impressive about Gomez's movements forward other than him being southpaw. The guy weighed 230lbs when he should be nearer 215, his footwork wasn't amazing. Nothing that a fighter of Vitali's stature should not be able to adjust to. He just could not time anything. He looked like he never even sparred for the fight, either that or he's losing his timing.

 

Even if it is accurate, or not, some are always looking for a dramatic, attention getting claim.
:-(

Fact;

Gomez is a left handed, fast, cruiserweight world champion who defended his title numerous times.

Vitali took him apart.

Case closed.

 

i don't see it. Povetkin is aggressive and pretty easy to hit. He's skilled inside but Vitali's power is on another level. Vitali could land his combinations a lot easier against him than the defensive gomez. I think he grinds down povetkin pretty easily. It's a really bad style matchup for Povetkin, who I rank #3 H2h.

imo, Gomez seemed to be the one smothering Vitali.

 

Yes, I believe Vitali showed evidence of slowed reflexes tonight. His hand speed and overall body movement seemed less controlled and less quick than in past fights.

Some argue that Vitali's problems were a consequence of his fighting a tricky southpaw. I disagree. Compare Vitali's performance tonight to his performance against another southpaw -- Corrie Sanders -- five years ago. Against Sanders, Vitali was a much faster and better synchronized fighter than he was against Gomez.