Vitali Klitschko vs Sonny Liston

I'll go with Klitschko by clear decision.

 

Well it's funny to read that he "eats" himself up to 213lbs, because he always looks ripped and if you'd ask a person who didn't know Byrd, they wouldn't know he "ate" himself up to that weight.

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A guy who ate himself up to his weight looks like this:

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All you mat guys are frightened of boxing but want the kudos of physical combat ,wrestling is for wimps,Get in the ring and exchange punches ,instead of fondling each other on the mat.There hasnt been a decent wrestler since Hackenshmidt and Gotch retired.Something a bit suspect about all those cross buttocks and full nelson's imo.

 

BYRD IS FIGHTING AT 175 IN HIS NEXT FIGHT, ENOUGH SAID, BYRD ALSO LOST TO CALAZAGE

 

For punching power alone i wouldn't put Vitali in the top 100 p4p. All of his knock outs come from damage over time, a cumulative build up; It also must be noted that this is against b level opposition. He has average power.

 

I have to agree, If you said that about the 5"9 James Toney who was 238 LBS for some of his fights you would have a point but Byrd carried the weight well. He handled big guys well and the only time he messed up was with Vlad (and that was not a size issue) amd Laying on the ropes vs Ike. Byrd did not have Listons power but offered a lot of other skills and could hurt a guy as well and had decent southpaw speed

 

Sure.

 

What on earth are you guys talking about? What do roids have to do with anything. He is 6'8" 250 lbs and talented and tough I am 53 years old. My old man boxed I wrestled In high school, college, Studied Martial arts under Jim Harrison. Chuck Norris. Bruce Lee and the Old man Gracie and I know more than all of you. I think that vitali would win

 

Let’s focus on the facts, which might be difficult for power puncher since he hates Vitali. Vitali was given some medicine by a doctor to heal an injury that contained one of 200+ banned substances in the Olympics. This was his lone positive test.

Vitali has always tested clean as a professional. You know this, so stop pretending as if what he accomplished as a professional was with the aid of steroids.

The 50 pound weight gain weight in eight years is laughable. First off it was not a 50 pound gain. In 1996 Vitali was about 230 pounds. Vitali is a large man at 6’8”. Big athletes tend to gain weight as they age. Check any sport.

Or if Power puncher thinks everyone who gains weight is on riods, maybe he can tell us how Lennox Lewis, who was 207 pounds in his first Olympics gained nearly 50 pounds over the course of his career.

 

Jeez man i'm gonna make sure i go easy with the cheek from here on!! :yikes

 

Byrd looks a little soft in the above photo around the pectoral area, so he definately has a few pounds he could lose if he had to. He could fight at 175lb but he'd be ripped and would also lose a lot of muscle mass in doing so. He looks like a guy who has not cut any weight just to stay in the more profitable heavyweight division.

As far as VK goes he does not at all look overly bulked in that photo. As the guy is 6ft 7 I would suggest that 250lbs is a good solid weight for him. It certainly doesn't look like he's abused steriods or HGH whenever I've seen him. Just remember how tall this guy is - he's about 7 inches taller than Liston!

As for VK not having proven himself worthy to be in the same ring as Liston what nonesense. Whilst I'm not saying he would win he'd give a good account of himself and he has serious physical advanatges over Liston. As for the person he said he has 'average' power you're having a laugh mate. While he isn't a one punch bomber like a Tyson or a Lewis VK has more than decent power. You don't get a KO% like he has with 'average' power.

 

And Joe Louis started boxing as a light heavyweight. Ali won Gold at light heavyweight too. I love how some say Byrd is too small in a vain effort to diminish modern heavies, but Louis and Marciano are not. Its a double standard.

 

Is roy jones a natural heavyweight or cruiser because he fought at 193 (200 in the ring.) ripped v ruiz? Or is he actually best at 168 as he was in his prime? (he was 169 in his last bout v tito.)
The answer to that question will tell you the story of this thread digression regarding the size of byrd and liston....

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Liston has the reach advantage (84 inches versus 79 inches for Vitali) which I suspect would at least mitigate the effect of Vitali's 7/8 inch reach advantage. I certainly don't think this is one case where the shorter boxer is going to have trouble reaching his opponent.

Both were very slow: Vitali seemed slower on his feet, especially when he entered into the big leagues; Liston loaded up on his punches more and thus tended to be slower with his hands. Neither was known for their excellent defence, but both had a few defensive moves (Vitali's leaning back, Liston's smart defensive footwork) that often got them out of serious trouble.

In terms of punching technique, I give a considerable edge to Liston. Vitali was essentially an arm-puncher who rarely put a lot of power into any individual punch. Sonny didn't even know how to throw a jab without trying to cave his opponent's face in. I also think that, at his best, Liston's combination punching was considerably better.

Vitali had the better workrate though. Liston was no slouch, but he tended to be pretty tactical in workrate terms: sometimes he'd put his opponent under pressure, but often he'd jab away and wait for an opportunity to present itself. Vitali was in the school of making opportunities: he was into constantly punching, even if ineffectually, trying to wear his opponent down.

I give Vitali an edge in terms of his stamina. At his best, Liston's stamina was good but not fantastic. Vitali won many of his best fights in the later rounds. It's true that Vitali sometimes looked punched out after 2 rounds, but that was due to his slack technique which made him look more tired than he actually was.

Vitali would also have an edge in the chin department, but not by much. Liston, a blatant dive aside, was only knocked out once in his career, against Leotis Martin when he was utterly exhausted and over five years past his peak. In his prime he took some very good punches from Cleveland Williams, a monstrous puncher. Overall, I would describe Liston's chin as very good. Vitali's, on the other hand, was excellent: big punchers of the level of Lewis and Sanders couldn't put him down.

I think that Liston's punch selection would be well suited to fighting Vitali. His long jab would present a dilemma for Vitali: lean back and expose his body, or move back towards the ropes? Liston's left hook I think would present a big problem for Vitali, due to how low he kept his right hand. Vitali never faced a left-hooker anywhere near the level of Liston. Liston was also very educated with his right hand and I think could score with it in close. Sonny's body attack would serve him very well on the inside, I suspect.

Vitali, on the other hand, doesn't have that same kind of suitable punch selection. I don't think his jab would be fast enough to be effective against Liston; his right hand, although good, would be too predictable for a boxer of the experience and craftsmanship of Liston. Beating a prime Liston involved having quick and unpredictable punches, but Vitali just doesn't bring that to the table.

This is how I see a fight between the two panning out: early on, Liston would force the action patientely, keeping Vitali off balance with the jab and his aggression, but not overextending himself either enough to be countered effectively or to finish Vitali off. Occasionally he'd land a big bomb, but Vitali's strength, chin and survival instincts would keep him standing. Liston would likely sweep all of the first seven rounds.

Around round eight or nine, I suspect Liston would make a strategic decision to fight more cautiously. Vitali would start to get into the fight, but fail to land anything especially effective. Given Liston's body attack and early dominance, I suspect Vitali would have trouble quite getting into gear, as seemed the case by the sixth round of the Lewis fight. Still, Vitali I think would win a majority of the last five rounds; say three or four, with Liston landing the cleaner punches and Vitali landing more of them.

Final scores would be something like 9-3 or 8-4 Liston. Vitali I think would put up a very good fight and win a lot of respect for his performance, but I think he would be dealing both with a different league from that which he competed in and a difficult style. I suppose you could summarise this one as a triumph of good technique and strategy over height and durability. I'd be keen to see this one.

 

Its not bryd is small, hes just not that good.