Vitali Klitschko vs. Frank Bruno

V. Klitschko would batter Bruno to a 9 or 10 round tko defeat. A walk you down beat down typical of V.K.

 

Klitchko, by mid-late stoppage.

 

Klitschko TKO8

 

If we're talking about a prime (early 1990s) Bruno, this would look a lot like Bruno-Lewis, except Klitschko lacks either Lewis's skill on the back-foot or his one-punch power. Bruno would plod forward, out-jabbing Vitali and keeping him honest with left hooks and overhand rights. Vitali's low left would leave him open to Bruno's arching right (as it left him open to Lewis's) while Bruno kept his left in a position to block any rights from Vitali.

The way Vitali leans back would be a dangerous move against a boxer with an 82" reach, the ability to feint and the ability to switch between head and body. Inside, Bruno would out-hustle Vitali with his superior strength and dirty tricks.

Barring a stoppage on cuts or an injury from Vitali, Bruno would win a unanimous decision. Vitali has a SLIM chance of a late stoppage.

 

Bruno by decsion? Odd pick as Vitali was a domiant boxer who was never down on the cards after 3 roudns. Lewis had an even great reach than Bruno, and Vitlai made him miss.

Here's how I see the fight. Bruno could be intimidated, had an average chin and tended to run out of gas. Vitali was intimidating, had good power, and threw a high amount of punches.

I think Vitlai mia mid to late round TKO makes the most sense.

 

In a fight between two paper tigers somebody is going to get crumpled.

 

Styles make fights. Vitali never faced anyone as relentless, powerful or orthodox as Bruno. In fact, I'd even venture to say that a prime Bruno would be the best opponent Vitali ever faced.

The Lewis that Vitali faced was fatter, slower, less skilled and threw far fewer combinations than a peak Bruno. Vitali can lean away from a jab, but at some point he has to stop leaning; it's at that point he gets nailed with the right hand or the left hook. The Lewis that Bruno faced was more defensively sound than Vitali but Bruno landed on him frequently.

Vitali could punch, but not on the Tyson level, which is what's needed to get Bruno intimidated. On the back foot (which is where it seems to agree Vitali would be) he would be unable to set himself properly, just as Lewis, Bonecrusher and Witherspoon were unable to set themselves properly.

It's notable that very few boxers put up a high workrate against Bruno. His power and constant jab were themselves extremely intimidating. As for stamina, Vitali's stamina is hardly flawless either. Like Bruno, he gassed in tough fights; the difference is, I think this fight would be a lot tougher for Vitali than for Bruno.

If so, Vitali would become the least powerful person ever to stop Bruno.

 

I tend to think that the Lewis fight was Bruno's masterpeice but that he did it against the wrong guy.

If you could stick that performence on a lesser oponent then he might have really done something.

 

So far The Kurgan's said every thing I was going to, so...I'll leave it up to him.

 

i think there's an underestimating of bruno here.only really good men beat bruno.was vitali better than even smith and witherspoon? both struggled to beat bruno and only did so when he ran out of gas.bruno's chin was actually pretty sound,stamina was his problem.if vitali could get him to the later rounds then as long as vitali's own stamina held up he might have a chance of a late stoppage,but to me this would have been a 50/50 fight.

 

You say that Vitali like Bruno gassed in big fights. What fights were those?
He didn't gas against Byrd, Lewis, Sanders (60 punches a round if i remember correct), Williams or Johnson. He is the only one who stopped Donald and he did it in the 10th round. In fact he has several stoppages past the 8th round. Bruno has only one stoppage win past the 8th. Just because Vitali had his mouth open doesn't mean he gassed. He retained his punch output and kept composure, something Bruno didn't do.

Vitali has an ugly style but i think it is deceptively hard to fight him. Something Lewis and Byrd also found out, even when they beat him.

Vitali fought plenty off the backfoot in his fight with Sanders. Well maybe not the backfoot, but a lot of lateral movement anyway. And who's to say it goes wrong for him if he goes forward? It's Bruno who has been stopped by virtually every puncher he faced whereas Vitali has an iron chin and has never lacked the ability to land on his opponent.

 

I didn't say he gassed in big fights, I said he gassed in TOUGH fights. He gassed against Lewis BADLY, to the point where he could no longer throw punches/raise his arms. He was practically collapsing in the clinches. Against Sanders, there were frequent periods where Vitali punched himself out, and if it wasn't for the fact that Sanders himself was gassed from the 2nd onwards, he could have been in trouble

It's one thing to score late stoppages against boxers who aren't there to win. Bruno proved that against Carl Williams. It's a different matter in a real war, which Vitali was only really engaged in against Lewis.

Actually, the Sanders fight reinforces my point: the only moments when Sanders was vaguely competitive was when he was pressing forward. This was because Vitali couldn't counter while moving backwards, and by leaning backwards he put himself in a position where he either had to keep going backwards until he got tagged or clinch.

It's one thing to pull off an awkward style when you're in your element. Ali, after all, was "the Greatest" for as long as his opponent came at him at a predictable pace. Hamed was brilliant provided his opponent was in awe of his power. Vitali was unstoppable as long as his opponents were covering up, not throwing and on the ropes. That's not where Bruno is going to be.

What you're saying is that, faced with a statue-eqsue southpaw, he worked angles. That's what anyone with an inch of boxing sense would do. However, given the awkward, robotic and off-balance way he did it, one can be sure he's going to look even more ragged than Lewis did against Bruno.

He won't go forward, or at least it would be contrary to all past performance. When Lewis and Sanders came forward, Vitali did his Ali impression (and got tagged). I doubt that faced with Bruno- who hit harder than either Lewis or Sanders- he would change that pattern of behaviour. After all, McCall had a hard punch and an even harder chin than Vitali, but went into a shell after the first few rounds against Bruno.

 

Well he may have taken a few breathers against Sanders, but that doesn't negate the fact that he threw more than 50 punches a round. I lost the document that had the exact number (as far as those numbers are exact), but i remember it to be over-averagely high just like other fights of his.
I think he only was inactive in the last minute of the 6th round in his fight against Lewis, may have to rewatch that one.

Still though, he never lost a fight because he ran out of gas.

My point simply was that his punch output has been very high in all his fights and he has more late stoppages. In other words, he remains dangerous along the stretch.

Vitali lost the war against Lewis, but Bruno lost his wars also.

I've watched this fight last week and this is simply not true. The only times when Sanders was effective was when he ducked Vitali's right hand and came back with a very hard and fast power left hand. It was also exactly that punch which stunned him in the 1st. When Sanders came forward, he usually missed a lot of his punches and Vitali moved out of the way. I do agree that Vitali is not a counter puncher. Some of them were arm punches but they scored and weared him down anyway.

Incidentally, Vitali is much faster on his feet than Bruno is.

Well this is what we can never know for sure. It is actually interesting because i think neither Frank or Vitali were ever really outboxed.

Akward or not, he did it very effectively. Bruno landed a few very good right hands but he won most of the rounds with jabs, not power punches. It's not like Lewis was miles down against Bruno; i think it was along the lines of 4-2 for Bruno (just like Vitali-Lewis), but it has always been the later rounds when Bruno was more and more prone to be taken out and i think this is where he will meet his demise against Klitschko, after perhaps a very good start.

Yes, but Lewis was a lot more durable than Bruno, Sanders was probably on the same level but then again, he got stopped by Klitschko. Vitali would definitly find openings and land those akward shots.

By the way, what's your evidence that Bruno hits harder than Lewis and Sanders? I would say they're about on the same level.

And the thing is, even if he goes into a shell like McCall did, that hardly guarantees a victory. He had to hold on pretty desperatly late against McCall, and Witherspoon and Smith lost all or nearly all 10/11 rounds but they still beat him. Of course Vitali could break down as well, but Bruno comes off as a bit more fragile to me.


This could be one of the most robotic fights ever, by the way.

 

It's true that Frank Bruno just fell short at the highest level, but the standard was pretty good back then compared to today. Only top drawer fighters beat Bruno, and not without a stiff argument.
Vitaly Klitschko would not be able to intimidate, outbox or outwork Bruno. He would not be able to walk him down or back him up.
Frank would be pleasantly surprised to find Vitaly so easy to hit, especially with his ramrod jab.

Bruno was a solid technician and if he kept to a gameplan he would box to a decent points win, or if Vitaly struggled with the pace, and started to let his hands drop he would stop him with a big right hand to the side of the head.
I know Vitaly had a solid chin, but Frank had a monster punch on him.
Oh, and if Bruno ever got in the ring with Wlad, his brother would suffer the same fate, only inside 2 rounds.