Vitali Klitschko Is Overrated

Outside of the obvious like Byrd and Lewis, the only guys I could see causing an upset to Bruno would be Peter or Sanders and I'd still favor him over both.

 

The Briggis that fought Lewis maybe has a chance but the way past it, if not shot version that fought Vitali? No way, Chisora's a poor man's Bruno.

 

Facts about Vitali

Lost to 2nd best opponent underpowered, 6’, 211 lbs, southpaw slickster Byrd, on the front foot, in Germany, made no attempt to avenge

Taken 12 rounds for the first time by tallest opponent 6’7, 253 lbs, Sprott-victim Hoffman, on the backfoot, in Germany

Lost to best opponent 37 year old, 12 months inactive, overconfident, 6’5, 257 lbs, final career fight, champion Lewis, in America, the sole instance where Vitali was the B-side and underdog

Taken 12 rounds by 243 lbs spoiler Kevin Johnson, on the front foot, in Switzerland and by 38 year old, 262 lbs, 2nd heaviest opponent Briggs, on the front foot, in Germany

Taken 12 rounds in hardest and most competitive win (211-163 punches landed according to Compubox, consensus score 118-111) against determined 241 lbs Chisora, on the backfoot, in Germany

0 KD’s across 6 fights and 63 rounds against these opponents

 

I'm not sure i'd even bet with confidence that the Lewis that fought Vitali would beat a prime Bruno.

 

Bruno was not as durable, fit or (generally) mentally tough as Vitali so he'd have a higher chance of losing to most of Vitali's opponents. He was stopped by Smith and Witherspoon in addition to Tyson x2 and Lewis, with his best win being a difficult fight against McCall.

Perhaps on average Bruno would beat all of the opponents Vitali beat, perhaps not. But would he have taken as little damage as Vitali did in most fights? If not, he would have been worn out faster, resulting in more defeats. Vitali's longevity was far superior, retiring finally at 41 rather than 34.

Take Frazier: individually be might beat Peter, Arreola and Chisora (I say might because of the huge time gap). But I suspect that these would be very punishing fights for him as they were all durable 240+ lbs heavyweights with brawling styles. So Frazier might have become shopworn very quickly, whereas a fighter with Vitali's physical advantages and style didn't take nearly as many headshots from shorter heavies.

 

I don't understand the purpose of this post. You can't knock out everyone all time. Are we bashing heavyweights for not scoring knockdowns in shut out wins?

Also, in your facts, you left out that Vitali Klitschko was 40 years old against Chisora. Chisora was 28 and in his prime. Klitschko won 10 of the 12 rounds.

Vitali Klitschko was 39 years old when he fought Shannon Briggs (who was younger), and Vitali not only won every round, he beat Briggs so badly that Briggs was hospitalized with a broken nose, broken orbital bone and the referee was roundly criticized (like the ref in Holmes-Tex Cobb) for not stopping it as early as the seventh or eighth round.

Vitali Klitschko was also coming off major shoulder surgery when faced Timo Hoffman. It was just a fight to get back in the ring and try out the arm. Hoffman was the first person to go 12 rounds with him. And the next guy to go 12 rounds wouldn't show up for another nine years.

I'm not going to defend him for quitting against Byrd or for failing to rematch.

Lennox Lewis beat him straight up. But Lennox Lewis beat everyone he faced as a pro, so there's no harm in that.

Vitali Klitschko was a top heavyweight in the sport's history. One of the best. If a gripe against him is he didn't knock someone down as he was winning every round against him ... that's grasping at straws.

If you don't think so, hold all the other heavyweights in history to the same standard and see how their fare.

How many times did they go the distance and not score a knockdown? How many times did they lose fights and who did they lose to? How did they do after the age of 37? Any of them win 10 heavyweight title fights after the age of 37?

Hell, how many came back after being out of the ring for nearly four years and stopped in his first fight back (at 37) a 28-year-old, in his prime heavyweight champion?

Because a lot of great heavyweights fought well past 37, took long layoffs, and some went the distance with quite a few pretty bad fighters, and some may have even lost to a couple of them.

Hold all those guys to the same standard you're holding Klitschko.

 

"I don't understand the purpose of this post"

This thread is titled "Vitali Klitschko is overrated", my first post was providing some facts that concur with the title. Everyone is aware of the fact that Vitali lost very few rounds, was never dropped, had a high output, made a lot of defences, had unusual longevity etc.

"And hold all the other heavyweights in history to the same standard and see how their fare."

People regularly do hold fighters to these kind of standards, especially active fighters.

 

I do ,and I'd certainly pick a prime Bowe to beat both Klits.