Vitali Klitschko vs Riddock Bowe

Vitali certainly isn't a knockout puncher. He doesn't sit on his power shots or put his weight into it, he arm punches with clubbing power, landing in bunches and beating fighters into submission.

However, everything Briggs said there is bull****. :rofl

He was certainly hospitalized for facial damage in addition to the bicep injury, which he tore out swinging wildly at Vitali and missing.
[url]http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/10/briggs-in-hospital-for-broken-orbital-bone-broken-nose-and-torn-left-biceps-suffered-in-loss-to-klitschko/[/url]

 

He certainly never lapsed into a coma.

 

I wonder if the fact that Donald was an unbeaten 27 when he fought Bowe , and was 35, and had lost his two biggest fights when he met Vitali had anything to do with it?:rofl

Yanqui Diaz 10-1-0 stopped Gomez in1 round in 2004 Gomez went 9 rds with Vitali by which time Gomez was a fat 36 years old cruiserweight.

 

Yeah, I don't remember that ever being reported either. Vitali no doubt did a number on him though, Briggs was a stationary heavy bag the entire fight. Vitali may not be a concussive puncher but those right hands hurt, Briggs lost his legs several times and showed a ton of heart I didn't think he had in him.

 

Vitali is a decent puncher but he is not a dynamite one.

Lennox dropped Briggs three times and that was the prime, 26 years old version, not the bloody old man who was fighting with a torn biceps muscle that Vitali hit flush all night without dropping .

 

I have no doubt Lennox is a more explosive puncher than Vitali, but to be fair, Briggs was also gasping for air when Lewis put him down, same as the Wilson knockout who laid a spent Briggs out with one punch in the 3rd. Of course Briggs was prime and trying to win those fights with aggressive hot starts that left him sucking air after two rounds. Against Vitali he had no reason to be tired, he just stood there and ate right hands.

McCline dropped Briggs too and put a beating on hiim as I recall, though Briggs finished the fight. Vitali would probably always beat Briggs by decision, the Cannon would probably just get off to a better start before settling into being a punching bag. Maybe if Shannon over exerted himself as he was prone to doing than, Vitali could force a stoppage. Hell, the actual fight should have been stopped in the 7th.

 

Lennox didn't retire after the Vitali fight and Vitali vs Johnson was a WBC elminator. He was hoping Vitali would lose to Johnson but he didn't and Lennox retired one day before he was going to be stripped of his WBC belt because he wouldn't fight Vitali. They could have had a rematch the night Vitali fought Johnson but Lennox he said wouldn't fight him because he was worried Vitali's cut didn't have enough time to heal in spite of the fact German, American and NSAC doctors all cleared him. It would have been one of the biggest paydays of his career, probably 2nd only after Tyson, and he turned it down out of concern for Vitali, what a thoughtful guy.

Vitali was 40 too :roll:

He was 38 years old and stopped him. I love how people take a prime Bowe from one fight and match him against a 40 year old Vitali.

 

Vitali didn't KO Arreola it was a TKO is what I meant.
Anyway when Bowe was being outboxed it was usually
by somene with an great jab Biggs, Golota, Holy. Vitalis
jab isn't that fast snapping jab I don't see Vitali winning
on the outside even with the reach. What is it 83 to 80
in favor of Vitali, reach? Bowe's jab was fast, crisp with
enough pop to stagger fighters. Vitali is getting beat up
on the inside. Bowe had the power and strength to impose
his will. This isn't Foreman, Tyson, Lewis even Wlad.
If Vitali's punching power was in the same category as
the aforementioned fighters I may theorize otherwise.

 

Briggs is an old fighter now and with all those PED's about as mobile as a wardrobe, he had no business anywhere near a title fight
Didn't Briggs have an asthma attack when he lost early in his career? The Vitali/ Briggs fight should have been stopped around the 7th .
Ian StJohn, the referee , who lives about 10 miles from me ,had a particularly bad night .Briggs' corner should be ashamed of themselves too.

 

A 92/93 Bowe beats any version of Vitali, as does the 96 Bowe who fought Gonzalez.

Lots of silly arguments in this thread about Golata or Adamek,Chisora & Arreola.

Take both guys at their absolute best & who looks better on film against the better opponents?

Its Bowe all day long, he's more talented, more determined & just the better fighter.

Vitali had greater consistency & longevity due to his fantastic work ethic but Bowe would beat him up badly.

 

A slightly past Lemmie roughed him up pretty bad, for get about the cut above the eye, big cut underneath, split lips, busted mouth...nasty, now I am in the minority here and believe if they would let the fight continue on for , lets say, two rounds, VK wins becuase Lemmie was spent beyond spent.

But......Bowe fights three minutes a round, even out of shape does not get tired and would do a number on VK way worse than Lemmie because he would jump on him , stay there , force a war and Bowe can get dirty, elbows, low blows etc..plus he was a excellent body puncher and I don't think VK likes it there........this will be no tactical match where VK can dictate the pace and arm punch his opponents into submission, no, like in the Lemmie fight he will be forced to go upclose and that will be his undoing.

The proof is in the pudding, VK skin is not holding up with major close rough house tactics and the sole reason he has not had the same damage because there ain't no fighter around today with the guts and skill to walk him down.

BTW, I believe VK would outpoint Holyfield

 

Yeah, the fight vs. Johnson was for a "shot" at the WBC HW Title... look at my post again! Then it states that he beat Sanders for the vacant WBC title.

Lewis did retire after his fight with Vitali... he didn't retire right away, but eventually he retired and never fought again. Vitali wanted a rematch, plenty of other people wanted to fight Lewis... Lewis retired. Would he have fought Johnson had Johnson beat Vitali? I guarantee it... then take on Corrie Sanders who beat Wladimir? Oh hell yes! Then he wouldn't have to worry about the Klitschko's ever again.

I agree with you, he did not want to fight Vitali again.

 

Gonzalez!!! You all need to stop bringing up Gonzalez. Gonzalez sucked balls. A past prime (but still good) Tim Witherspoon beat the **** out of Gonzalez worse than Bowe did. Witherspoon dominated Gonzalez every bit as much as Bowe did. Bowe's fight with Gonzalez doesn't indicate anything.

 

I watched the Lewis v Vitali fight for about the 50th time last night, and I must say that although it was a damn good fight filled with action, it was a hell of a sloppy fight with surprisingly little technical skill going on.
It was really just two big guys often just wailing away with little thought and preparedness, and lots of ugly clinching and mauling. UGLY fight from a technical standpoint.

But something else I noticed was that although Lewis was the more guilty party, Vitali was also surprisingly sloppy and ungainly as well, despite being the more technical of the two.
Vitali has that gangly, awkward style sure, but his footwork was pretty bad at times and he was often off-balance when throwing shots.
It's interesting to see how the dynamics of a fight changes when you have two equally-sized guys in there, as opposed to one tall guy and one shortish guy, as is the case in most Vitali fights.

Two other things I noticed (I have before but worth bringing it up) is that aside from the right hand he hit Lewis with in the second, his rights had basically no effect on Lewis, and he landed quite a few clean shots.
I think it's safe to say Vitali is an attrition hitter and not a knockout puncher. He also landed dozens of clean right hands on Sanders (another with a less-than-stellar chin) and he could not drop him.
Lastly, Vitali seemed to have little answer to Lewis' uppercut once he started to use it from the 4th onwards.

Not to turn this into yet another Lewis/Vitali debate, but these are relevant points when discussing Bowe, because Bowe had a fantastic uppercut himself and could fight at a variety of ranges.

 

And that was an in shape Vitali against a not so focused Lewis. Lewis focused and in the best shape would have fought a much better fight.