Vitali Klitschko- The greatest heavyweight in history?

I think it's preposterous to assume Vitali is anywhere near being the best HW in history. Also: What basis are we talking about? Best in terms of H2H comparisons? Best in terms of resume quality? Best in terms of achievements and global fan acclaim?

I rate Vitali very highly H2H against most Top 50 HWs in history, but on the other counts (resume, achievements etc.) he doesn't rate very highly. Just the truth.

 

:good

 

Vitali suffers from the "Larry Holmes" syndrome:

Lack of any competitors (in his prime) good enough to prove his superiority. Holmes may have been one of the top 5 HW's in history, but we'll never really know. Same for Vitali.

 

Mr. Jack London you need to school Alein and other such creatures greatest KO % ALL-TIME FOR the great Vitali!!!!!!:rofl:rofl

 

It's funny enough when people try to put Vitali in the top 20 ATG.

 

Not the greatest by a long shot but a hth nightmare for any heavyweight in history.

 

I pretty much agree. On a H2H basis he probably cracks the top 10. As far as his career goes, might make the top 20.


Gotta give the K brothers their dues, they are climbing the ladder and as tempting as it is to do, you can't punish them for having fans like Bremen although as I mentioned it's very tempting.

H2H, in no particular order you'd have to have some or most of the following:

Ali, Louis, Foreman, Dempsey, Johnson, Liston, Frazier, Marciano, Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis, Bowe, V. Klitschko, W. Klitschko

And if some kind of mythical round robin could be created I think one or perhaps both the K brothers would crack the top 10.

 

I think Ali is the greatest all time like most but hth in his prime he struggled with guys like even Chuvalo. Vitali has never been in that close of a fight exsept when he fought partialialy blinded against Lewis. And even in that fight he won two thirds of the fight.

Hard to get a win against Vitali by decision or knock out.

 

Can you picture brian london ,mildenberger,cooper,chuvalo,folley, patterson beating Vitali? these were all Ali wins before his exile!! Can you picture evangilista coopman, wepner, quarry, alvin lewis,mathis, ellis, big cat williams beating him. Now really can you picture Norton(trouble big punchers) Shavers (koby Quarry 1,small frazier,beating Vitali???

 

Probably not. But I could picture a prime Lewis, Tyson, Holmes, Liston, Foreman, Bowe, and Ali possiblity beating him, and both Dempsey and Marciano would be live underdogs if nothing else.

 

Will it's okay to give credit to Vitali for winning 4 of the 6 rounds against Lewis, it's really hard to say if he would have won a decision, had the fight continued. Certainly Lewis was coming on having won the last round on all 3 scorecards.

 

I don't know what would have happened if the fight went on but Vitali has proved himself to be a hard boxer to outpoint. Even with his vision impaired he was fighting with Lewis.

I think Lewis is a head to head nightmare also.

 

I will always wonder how Vitali would have fared against a PRIME Lennox Lewis who had a full trained camp in preparation for him.

Both guys fought each other on short notice in '03, but Vitali was at his peak (IMO) while Lewis was at the lowest form in his career.

It's just something to think about.

 

Vitali had 10 days notice for a fight period. Lewis had already trained for a fight. Vitali would have knocked Lewis in the very next round. Lewis' badly broken nose was really bad. Lewis retired rather than face Vitali again, even for record money!

 

Lewis trained (as if) for a Fat Krik Johnson. Which would explain him huffing and puffing after 1 round