Vitali Klitschko vs “The Golden era”? Contenders?

Byrd was higher ranked than Sanders.

Byrd would be the best opponent Vitali has ever beaten.

Nothing what you said changes that and i've been saying that since we started this conversation and yet we're still going round in circles.

To agree to disagree so we can finally end this debate yes Don King was an issue for the fight not happening. But i don't agree with your view that Byrd wouldn't be Vitali's best win.

 

One of the best comments i have ever read, amazing lol

 

Did you see him struggling with anyone?

What fights was he not dominating every round? How many rounds did he lose in his over 40 fight career ? He made a lot of defenses and fought top 10 guys throughout his reign. He is underrated.

 

I've seen him losing 2 out of 4 his biggest fights.

He wasn't dominating the Byrd fight if we're at that. He didn't lose much rounds, because he was usually fighting second and third tier heavyweights. His record against Top 10 competition is 6-2. His best wins are Corrie Sanders and Samuel Peter. Not a good look for a H2H beast.

 

Vitali is just seen as a H2H threat based on his skills size and chin . Most people would probably rate him as a sort of 15-30 all time heavyweight who could have done a lot more which I don't think makes him overrated compared to other boxers. And a large number of people think his era was one of the worst era's ever on top of that.

 

Just as you say, you're right, and the entire forum here is wrong and overrating Vitali.
He only won 6 fights against top-10 ranked fighters and lost 2, one against Byrd, who was winning comfortably, but seeing that Byrd was coming at him, he faked an injury to escape without being knocked out. Vitali did a good job, otherwise his career surely wouldn't have continued. On the other hand, he lost to a fat, old Lewis, who had just beaten Tyson and Rahman by pure luck and was clearly in decline. Despite taking the fight with 12 days left and being ahead of Lennox on all the scorecards, losing by a cut was a terrible performance by Vitali. Also, if he hadn't been saved by the referee or doctor, he would have been knocked out soon. In his two defeats Vitali was humiliated by his rivals, probably not making it into the current top 10, being at the level of Helenius, Yoka or Joyce.

 

That’s probably a little better than whatever Foreman’s top ten record is, and I’m not sure if you’re putting Solis and Kevin Johnson in there, both of whom crept into the top ten. Vitali also has a better old guy record than Foreman and Corrie would light up Norton if not an aging Frazier.

 

Frazier and Norton are way better scalps than Sanders and Peter. But yeah, Foreman doesn't have that much of Top 10 wins either.

 

But, he was winning those fights. Both fights he was ahead on the cards. Is it possible he only lost rounds to ( Lewis/Byrd) in part because of the injuries. In truth, Byrd probably got a few rounds late because VK was one armed.

Again, we are talking H2H ranks, that would mean VK starts out healthy. Without the freak cut or a torn rotor cuff, he always dominated. He was crushing Lennox and Byrd before the injuries. I think we should take that into account. That to me is a huge plus in his column.

 

I think that they should rank right next to each other, but people tend to put Foreman absurdly high. Adamek also made it to no. 1 contender status fwiw.

I’m also not quite sure how to rank the Solis win. I think Solis was a good fighter but didn’t bother proving it esp after he got paid, and the injury was kind of flukish. It would probably be a much more highly regarded win if the injury had happened six rounds in.

 

Well, Luis Ortiz was winning the Wilder fights. So? Golota was winning the Bowe fights. So? You can be winning, but still lack something to close the deal. Vitali lacked durability. Also, Byrd took Klitschko on 10 days notice and still managed to bother him enough for him to injure himself and quit on his stool. Also, Vitali wasn't dominating the fight at all. Byrd only landed 8 less punches and was far more accurate. He wasn't crushing Lennox either. He was winning 4-2 with a lot of press guys having it 3-3. He was getting the facelift in that ring and was ultimately stopped.

I base my H2H look on real accomplishments. If you look like a beast against second and third tier heavyweights, it doesn't mean that much to me. If you fail 50% of the time you are fighting on the elite level, I have to take this into consideration. If the fighter is injury prone, which heavily impacted his career, that's it. And Vitali had a glass body, which did way more damage to his career than the glass jaw of his brother impacted him.

 

Just as an add.

Byrd was getting dominated, even when VK was one armed he was WAY ahead and would have cruised to the win.

The scorecards after nine rounds read 88-83, 88-83, and 89-82 in favor of Klitschko . Byrd was losing badly.


VK was ahead 58-56 on all 3 judges cards vs Lewis. VK was busting him up before the cut.


I know a lot of people want to downplay VK, but , after some research I think he is very underrated. Injury prone, sure, but of he stayed healthy through the fight who could beat him?

 

If Vitali lacked durability you are lacking brains

 

Well, I'm lacking brains then, cause Vitali literally retired because he couldn't stop getting injured.