Vitali Klitschko, the most avoided heavyweight in the past 50 years?

Vitali was GOAT material

circumstances prevented him from fully achieving his potential

- getting robbed off his W against Lewis by the biased doctor, referee and venue

- opponents ducking him

- bunch of career threatening injuries

- 4 year long layoff due to injuries

- political distractions

- his brother becoming the HW kingpin during his long layoff, therefore making impossible for Vitali to become THE champ. he was always better than Wlad, but couldn't challenge his own brother.

Vitali is one of the biggest what ifs in history

top 3 HW H2H for sure

 

No he wasn't. Lewis has that honour.

 

I was a big Vitali fan.

He proved how tough he was vs. Lewis. He had nasty cuts that may or may not have been caused by a few unintentional head clashes... but he wanted to continue and was up 4 rounds to 2 after 6 rounds. Lewis refused to fight Vitali again and instead retired as Champ.

He made a huge mistake when he quit vs. Byrd after 9 rounds. Vitali was clearly winning the fight but had suffered a serious shoulder injury. As long as he didn't get stopped he would have won on points... 4 more rounds. He was worried about a permanent injury and made the wrong choice. Vs. Lewis he showed that he was never going to make this mistake again. He really wanted to continue but the cuts were too bad.

He dominated every other fight he was in. Never down, never behind on points, he was awesome.

 

Byrd did fight him and has a victory over him.

Golota fought Lewis, Bowe and Tyson I'd doubt he'd be scared of Vitali who up until the Lewis fight beat nobody of note and was practically unknown.

And you could argue Ruiz opposition was better than Vitalis.

You can't be avoided if nobody even knows who you are. The Lewis fight was Vitalis coming out party and what made him a household name, he then fought Johnson and Williams and retired.

He was called out by Holyfield and Toney but no response.

So he was hardly avoided.

 

hmmm, I am not sure if I agree with this,,,,,

don't get me wrong Vits was a tough match up for anyone.

 

Harry Wills
Elmer Ray
Tim Witherspoon
Sonny Liston ( prior to winning the title )

 

This is all true..Don king even did that to Wlad when Stiverne was champion because he knew it was certain defeat and he losses all control of the Hw picture,which eventually happened a few years later with Wilder beating his fighter anyway.

 

Really? They fought in June 2003.

Lewis announced his retirement in February 2004. " Many times " " The money was there " " Bided his time "

Must have been the longest 8 months in the history of the universe.

Alternatively it just might be your bullsh it anti Lewis agenda.:rofl:rofl

 

Lewis had already planned on staying in boxing a few more years prior to the fight....he QUICKLY changed his mind,and yes months to think about giving a rematch to vitali is a long time,you weren't smart enough to know this.:roll:

 

I'm wondering what Vitali Klitschko's best win was.

 

Lewis had talked of retiring plenty before the Vits fight. Just before Johnson got injured Lewis said he wanted one more superfight with either Roy Jones or Vits. He got the Vits fight and beat him with his mind alreadt set on retirement. Fighters say a lot of things in the heat of the moment or under duress. I firmly believe Lewis' mind had already been set on sailing into the sunset before he fought Klitschko.