Vitali Klitschko vs “The Golden era”? Contenders?

I have a proof of Vitali struggling and being lost against Byrd, swinging at air, quitting and wanting no parts of him after that.

Maybe because Liston's shoulder was already injured when he walked into the fight with Ali?

 

We do know the injury occurred in the Byrd fight yes ? Vitali said himself he had no injuries prior to the fight that would've made a difference in the fight.

So we can assume Byrd instigated the injury considering Holyfield also had a rotator cuff injury when he fought Byrd aswell.

Regardless of what i believe or you believe the fact is Vitali never rematched Byrd who would've been the best win of his career. So injury or no injury Vitali had enough issues vs Byrd stylistically that left some doubt in his mind that he could beat Byrd in a rematch.

 

There's a big difference between Byrd and Young mainly that one is a southpaw which is the main issue I think Vitali had with Byrd since he could take away his jab. Young wouldn't be able to do that so I don't think he'd have as much success

 

Those are two different fighters

 

No proof. Thought so.

 

True that Byrd took away Vitali’s jab by parrying it that's one of the reasons Vitali had alot more problems vs Byrd. Wladimir had a much more potent jab than Vitali and I noticed that when i rewatched the fight like 2 or 3 years ago.

I still think Young would give Vitali issues though with his slippy defence but for me the biggest problem with Vitali is that I'm not quite sure how good H2H he is.

Like I said previously Vitali doesn't have alot of quality to his resume we assume he rates highly due to his size and iron chin and the fact he barely lost a round against B and C class Heavyweights.

Which don't get me wrong is still good and I'm not saying Vitali wouldn't do good H2H against some notable Heavyweights.

But I still think there is a bit of an unknown quantity in regards to Vitali.

I think Wladimir is more proven in that regard personally.

 

You typically jam your shoulder up from making contact with something. I can say Vitali jammed his shoulder up landing something on Byrd and it’s probably more valid than the zero video evidence claim that Byrd somehow slipped a punch and made Vitali injure himself in a way that is attributable to some special quality in Byrd rather than a random boxing event.

Vitali got surgery, Wlad beat the crap out of Byrd, Vitali took a path to the real title, and Byrd did the fake title thing with Don King. Vitali didn’t fear Byrd.

 

Wladimir is a much better technical fighter than his brother so his success vs Byrd doesn't equate to Vitali having the same success as we see in their actual fight.

As I said Byrd was rated amongst top 3 Heavyweights for 4 years and he was champion for what 3 years ?

So there's no real reason Vitali wouldn't want revenge against Byrd as Byrd was more highly rated than any opponent Vitali beat before he semi retired.

 

Andrew Golota’s success must equate to something.

Vitali was pretty much locked in to fight Johnson and Williams bc Lewis retired and Tyson lost. He took care of Sanders who was a lot more dangerous than Byrd and then got injured. It would’ve made sense for him to fight Byrd in that period instead of the rematch with Wlad but he was unable to fight due to injuries.

 

I just think there's always going to be a bit of an asterisk over that Byrd fight considering Vitali didn't have the rematch and prove himself that he could beat an upper echelon Heavyweight.

We can criticise Byrd for being boring and etc but it's still true that Byrd would've been Vitali’s best win of his career.

For me Vitali isn't proven enough against upper echelon Heavyweights in regards to winning.

Wladimir has the likes of Byrd, Povetkin, Haye, etc and his overall resume is superior to Vitali’s by quite some distance.

 

Just watched Vitali vs Purrity, I actually think Norton has a good chance at beating Klitschko, he would struggle with the combination of Nortons guard, pressure, and would have issues taking away his jab. Constant crouching could throw him off imo. Young would also be difficult but Vitali should beat him

 

Sure but all the guys listed are all about the level of his opposition but much smaller and less dangerous hence why I don't think he'd struggle much against them

 

Vitali outperformed Wlad against Peter, Sanders, and Purrity. He would’ve ud’d Byrd but got injured. Adamek was top ranked, as were Peter and Sanders. Solis was good, but got hurt before he could show it for more than three minutes. Gomez never got dominated like that. And there’s the Lewis fight.

 

A mere 50 pounds of muscle. Pshaw.

 

I can't recall Purrity having success against Vitali? Pretty sure Vitali dominated like every round there.