Vitali Klitschko vs “The Golden era”? Contenders?

My opinion too. Vitali wasn't just a big, big guy, he had great reflexes, sense of distance and an unusual but very effective way of fighting. He always came to fight in-shape and had one of the best chins in history. I find it extremely unlikely that any of that lot can beat him.

 

That guy is no tyre iron Jones.

 

Young vs Vitali pick can be based on boxing since Jimmy has a similar slick style to Byrd who had a close fight with Klitschko on 10 days notice and made him injure his shoulder and quit.

 

You used to hear it about the 60s/70s "Golden Era" guys who never quite got the crown, like Quarry and Norton.

(It was also implicit in the way that 70s guys would be matched up and picked to win against champs from other eras more often, although that's an aside.)

 

The idea Byrd caused Vitali to be injured by making him miss a lot may have some truth to it but I haven't seen that applied as much to other fighters when they get injured.

 

It was a close fight only 8 punches separated them in overall punches landed 124-132 I only had Vitali 1 point ahead at the time of the stoppage.

Byrd landed over 40 percent of his punches compared to Vitali down at 26 percent.

Byrd also only had a weeks notice and was fighting in Vitali’s backyard so no excuses.

Byrd made Vitali punch at weird angles making him look awkward instigating the injury. And the fact Vitali never pursued a rematch speaks volumes that its not the fluke that is often branded about.

The fact is Vitali has a forgettable resume against mostly B and C class fighters. Yes he hardly lost a round which deserves praise even if the opposition wasn't the strongest.

But a bit of an asterisk for me with Vitali is that he had the perfect opportunity to beat his 2 best opponents.

Lewis was old and out of shape.

Byrd had a weeks notice and was the much smaller opponent.

And yet Vitali couldn't beat either of them.

I think Young would give Vitali problems when he was at his peak between 1975-1977.

I also think Norton's awkward style could trouble Vitali aswell i know Norton maybe suspect to punchers and I know Vitali has a high KO percentage. But he isn't a KO artist or a massive puncher he normally wears down his opponents.

For example Vitali hit an old Shannon Briggs with everything but the kitchen sink and he managed to go the distance. Even someone like Danny Williams who was domestic level fighter went 8 rounds with Vitali taking a sustained beating.

Norton
Young
Quarry
Lyle
Ellis

Would all be top 5 wins for Vitali which goes to show he has quite a shallow resume.

 

Quarry would have cleaned up house right now. Can you imagine Quarry vs Usyk, Fury, AJ and Dubois? What a massacre!

 

Can't stand Dubois but yeah if he can hit it he can destroy it.

 

The stats are an indication that Vitali had issues getting his offence going hence he had a much lower connect rate than Byrd who was landing near enough half of the punches he threw.

No Byrd's sole intention obviously wasn't to make Vitali injure his shoulder from his defensive work. But Holyfield also suffered rotator cuff injury after fighting Byrd so obviously Byrd making these Heavyweights punch at awkward angles it can happen.

No i'm not saying Young would solely have to rely on Vitali having an injury to his shoulder. I'm saying if Vitali had issues vs a 211 pound defensive fighter in Chris Byrd who was actually 2 pounds less than Jimmy Young was at 213 pounds when he beat George Foreman.

Logically you could assume Young would also give Vitali problems with his defensive style also.

And finally as i said if Vitali was that confident vs Byrd he would've rematched him but he never did. Byrd was a top 3 Heavyweight between 2001-2005 and was a champion between 2002-2005.

Vitali had a good 3 year window to fight Byrd before he semi retired in 2005 due to injuries and let's remember Byrd would be Vitali's best win of his career.

So yes i think it's an indication Vitali had issues vs Byrd's style and maybe wasn't 100 percent confident he could beat Byrd in a rematch.

 

Except you have zero proof of this causing the injury. Old wives' tale.

 

You wrote all that out, and you don't even know that Byrd caused Vitali to injure himself with a slick defensive move. You just sort of repeated it enough to think it's true. Go find where the injury occurs.

 

Absolutely nobody says that about Ali beating Liston. They just made it up for Byrd.