Zuri Lawrence would have been a better opponent than Sosnowski. Valuev avoided him in hopes of getting a bigger offer but I'm not sure if anyone else did. Haye? Maybe there's some semblance of truth that the Klitschko brothers don't always offer the best contracts.
Thats f'ing hilarious! Although I disagree with your second paragraph. Vitali is just too unproven in the trenches, and alot of the past all time greats would be able to drag him into that territory. I want to see the guy actually overcome adversity and win against a top notch opponent before I go calling him a H2H monster against any fighter.
No, it doesn't. Liston's reach is listed as being 4' longer. But Vitali is at LEAST 6' taller, and fights tall as well, whereas Liston fought shorter. Liston is punching up, he will lose a lot of reach on that. Vitali, on the other hand, is jabbing at shoulder height into Liston's face, which suits him fine. :hat
Vitali is difficult to reach. Not only does he fight tall, he leans back when he jabs and moves making him harder to reach, but take him out of his comfort zone and he becomes 5'7
Look at his opposition. Woeful. He has a terrible resumé if we compare it to most of the lineal champions. And lineal champion he is not and never was, he's still realming in 'belt-holder' status, if a dominant one in a poor era. And when exactly did Vitali beat a guy with power, skills and a freakish reach a lot longer than his own, yet still remained a relatively small target at just 6'0½? And how exactly do you think Vitali would fair with a near-peak Muhammad Ali? It was a bad style match-up for Liston, not to mention he's facing an almost prime version of the greatest HW of all-time. And weighing in at 250 gives him an automatic win does it? Liston still has a far bigger reach though. Liston's resumé may be lacking because he ran into the worst possible opponent who ended his reign, and he was then avoided by the top contenders thereafter. And what exactly on Vitali's resumé tells you that he is expected to win?
in a three fight series i think liston takes at least one fight, but this for me is a very close match-up
Two questions with obvious answers: Whom is the better fighter on the inside, the poorly conditioned 37 year old Lennox Lewis from the 2003 fight with Vitali or the devastating, ripped peak 1960 Liston of Williams II? Then tell me how Vitali coped when Lewis got on inside...
Wladimir has more belts, but that doesn't mean a whole lot to me.... A champion makes the belt worthy; a belt doesn't make a champion.... BUT! I do respect younger bro Wladimir and his claim..... Wladimir prolly has better technical skill and one shot power, but older bro Vitali is bigger, tougher, meaner and more durable in the chin department.... I dig these dudes.........bbb:hat MR.BILL
CHRIST! Here we go again........ V.K. was doin' fine in and out with Lewis back in 2003....... V.K. was winning the epic battle in Los Angeles... Okay, Okay, Klit got cut... **** happens.... But aside from the cut, Klit was doing a number on Lewis in the "Points" department.... Lewis got the TKO win based on the torn flesh on Klit's face / eye, but by no means was Lewis looking awesome in that fight..... Lewis looked sluggish and gased all through the bout while Klit was on fire and showed the heart of a lion...... It is a fact that Klit's stock skyrocketed following his TKO loss to Lewis..... OH! Lewis would park Liston like a Cadillac in a time machine...... And so would V.K. as well......... Liston ain't beating either Lewis or Klit......... Naw.......:-( MR.BILL
I don't view it as a whitewash as it is quite close, however I think Liston might have won 2/3 fights in a trilogy. @MRBILL: I never suggested Liston would beat Lewis, and neither could Vitali (Plus Klit would have a horrible night prime-prime too).
I got a lotta 'Liston' stuff on tape............ Liston never proved himself against a hulking monster with skills such as "Lewis or V. Klit." Sonny Liston thought Cleveland Williams and Muhammad Ali were massive dudes, and they were big for the era, but Liston would fail miserably against Lewis and V.K. in a time machine...... All this talk about Liston's jab is hogwash here..... Liston at 6' 1" tall would not get off with his jab on a 6' 5" Lewis or a 6' 7" Klitschko like he was accustomed to doing against shorter and lighter dudes of the 50s and 60s...... Of course Liston would land his share of jabs in a proposed fight with either modern day monster / hulk, but not to the effect in which he'd be able to set-up his right cross and take control of the bout.... Liston lunged and missed a lot against Ali in 1964 / '65...... YES! Ali was far faster with his hands and feet than either Lewis or Klit ever was or is, but Liston would once again find himself lunging and winging punches while losing leverage by punching upward to hit some paydirt...... In a time machine, both "Lewis and Klit" hammer Liston for stoppages........ Peace.... MR.BILL
Old Liston against tall opponents: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6-u6xH9V-Q[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg-mvGAT80w[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKfvVhNID2I[/ame] Not claiming that any of these men were comparable to Lewis or Vitali in anything other than height but the films might be of some indication on how Liston would have gone on about fighting Vitali Klitschko or Lennox Lewis.