Vitali Klitschko -vs- Max Schmeling:

He wrote it too hard and exaggerated, but I know what he meant and I agree with his opinion. Fighters like Baer, whether how they clowned somtimes around in the ring or how "small" they were, beat the best fighters of their era, a thing, Vitaly and Wladimir didn´t (until today), we must that bear in mind...

 

Ironically enough, both the Klitschko's were favorites of Schmeling. They courted his attention and struck up a friendship with him.

Having said that, I think if Schmeling can come up with a way to defeat Joe Louis, Vitali isn't going to be some unfathomable opponent for him to defeat. I suggest as the fight wears on, Schmeling will get to Klitschko's chin more and more often.

Schmeling TKO-12

 

When has Vitali's chin ever failed him?

 

It hasn't... but I think Schmeling is going to get to it often in the (now) championship rounds. At some point, any chin will give in. I expect Schmeling to do that as Vitali begins to tire from too many rounds against Schmeling's solid power.

Unless you think Vitali could give Chuvalo a run for his money chin wise.

 

He wouldn't need Chuvalo's chin to beat Schmeling,

In 37 fights, the guy's only been stopped once on cuts, and on another occasion was forced to quit due to a torn rotator cuff. I'd say his chin has held up quite well. Schmeling at 190 Lbs, would also have his hands full with a monster like Klitschko. Not that size is everything, but its not like Vitali is a big bum. He's actually a big fighter who happens to be pretty good. As for your claim about the championship rounds, I'm not sure that Max could hang in there for too many rounds, while taking the kind of shots that Vitali would be nailing him with. I also don't see Scmeling at 190 Lbs knocking out a 245 pound guy with Vitali's chin and build. Schmeling was a good puncher, but not that good.

 

I really wish people wouldn't assume just because you pick one fighter over another, the concept of the supposed loser being a bum must be a part of the decisioning. I don't think Vitali's a bum, nor do I think Schmeling is some kind of thunder fisted power god. I simply think Schmeling has a very good right hand and that he could do well against Vitali, whose stand back defense hurts him against a top flight heavyweight who can stand up well in a good battle.

 

Guys with much lesser chins went the distance with Schmeling. He had good power in that right hand but not great power; he had to hit most fighters over and over and over. Vitali has never been floored legitly and i don't think a 190 lbs Schmeling is gonna do it either. Schmeling on the other hand, has a suspect chin.

 

Agreed,

Schmeling may be a better tactical fighter pound for pound, but I can't see him as having the physical tools to last very long against Vitali. This was a guy who was KO'd in a single round by Gypsy Daniels, yet some posters here think that Klitschko's chin is the one in question. atsch

 

How good was Vitallys chin really?

I seem to remember Sam Peter having an undentable chin untill recently.

Chin falls off verry rapidly every time you fight another ranked oponent.

 

The observation should be made that Schmeling as a mature fighter was only KOd by Joe Louis and Max Baer.

That is arguably the best all round heavyweight puncher of all time and the hardest heavyweight puncher of all time.

It is dificult to say how relevant the fights when he was KOd as a 19 year old with little amateur experience are.

 

This is a good point and i have to admit i was completly suprised by how Peter fell apart. McCline is a big 6'6 260lb man who lacks KO's due to a non-agressive style but so was Klitschko and he landed plenty but only staggered him once.


However, Vitali faced plenty of Gypsy Daniels fighters and was never KO'd in 1 round or even knocked down. What we have seen is that Vitali can take punches from very hard proven punchers (Lewis, Sanders, Hide) whereas Schmeling was knocked out early several times by smaller fighters.

True, but it was still a very quick KO loss. Louis was a beast, but still it cannot be overlooked that about 10 challengers lasted longer than Schmeling.

And i am not at all impressed by Baer. He looks like he was trained by Willard or something; horrible technique. Louis has a good jab but he just couldn't miss Baer with it, Baer had absolutely no defense. His record is very poor as well, in Fogey's recent analysis he landed rock bottom.

 

Schmelling certainly accomplished more than Vitali but head to head it would not be surprising for Vitali to be superior. If they were in the same era the playing field would be more even but it is hard to know exactly what abilities a Vitali in Schmelling's era would have or vice versa.

 

Herbie Hide was not proven as a puncher against the division's elite. Hide would be a threat to guys in the top 40 or so but against the top 10 his power is unproven.

 

Vitali showed a lot of potential but did not fight enough in the top bracket to really be considered an ATG but I would suspect he was durable and had a differcult enough style to give anyone a good fight, no one ever dominated Vitali, in fact he was ahead in all his fights