Vitali Klitschko's lineal claim and Chris Byrd issue according to The Ring

The scorecards were right. It's not a great fight for Vitali with the style. This is one of the few types of fights that Wlad looks better at because he is a little shorter and more fluid than Vitali. Regardless, Vitali would still beat Byrd 10 out of 10 times by wide UD in a very boring fight.

 

Coulda shoulda if he only woulda, lol. You tell us what you think would happen. We know what did happen.

Why not finish the fight one-handed and take the decision? That’s how you win. He didn’t. He quit. That’s how you lose.

They fought once. Vitali lost.

And did he and his promoter try to get Byrd right back in the ring so he could show us his “10/10” superiority? No, he did not.

Instead, he did what was known in the day as the Klitschko two-step … lose to one of them, that one hides and you get to see if you can beat his brother.

Wlad loses to Sanders. Did he try to avenge it? No … Sanders gets Vitali.

Vitali loses to Byrd. Did he try to avenge it? No. … Byrd gets Wlad.

Wlad loses to Ross freaking Purrity. Did he try to avenge it? No … Ross gets Vitali.

And even after Brother I beats the conqueror of Brother II, does Brother I then get emboldened and say ‘ok, my brother beat him, I’ve got a blueprint, I’ll go fight him again now and show I can do it’? No, that didn’t happen … the guy who lost to someone made sure to keep away from the guy who beat him forever more.

So Vitali doesn’t get ‘could have won’ credit over Byrd because (a) he didn’t have the fortitude to continue and coast to what you contend would be an easy decision by merely staying on his feet for a few more rounds; and (b) he let his brother protect him by sidestepping a rematch and letting Wlad do the dirty work rather than prove that he, himself, was superior to Byrd.

 

Revisionist history much? And that's not really what happened. Regarding Vitali's injury, I heard it is very painful and even if he tried to fight with one arm there is the real possibility that it could get injured worse than it was. Why? Because another 200 pound professional heavyweight is throwing punches at you! Regarding the Klitschko's playing traffic cop, Puritty rejected Wladimir's rematch offer. Wlad also rematched Brewster and won. I can't speak to the Sanders fight. I can tell you this though; if they weren't brothers they would be more dominant HW champs than they are now (which is pretty hard to believe). Wlad could have beaten any of those losses on his own and the same for Vitali.

 

I have no problem putting Byrd above Vitali, but I admit I am in the minority.

 

Boxing history is full of examples of guys fighting through injury. Vitali chose not to. Therefore he lost. (And it has been pointed out that the injury was a result of him not being able to hit Byrd … he didn’t slip on a banana peel.)

If they weren’t brothers, one would have fought the other and we’d have seen who the better fighter was … and that fighter would have one more impressive win on his resume, while the other would likely fall to the wayside.

 

Byrd was generally rated high for his wins over Tua and Holyfield (when those two were clear top 10, perhaps both still top 5 HWs), so the article's premise is wrong.
Byrd "earned a shot" at Lewis in 2001 (beat Maurice Harris and David Tua in 'IBF elimination') but Lewis had no interest in fighting Byrd.
Then Byrd beat Holyfield (who had just gone 1-1-1 with WBA Ruiz, and decisioned Rahman) for the vacant IBF title.

Byrd was rated in 2004 because he was a legitimate contender/belt-holder on a good run. That's why Vitali 'needed' to beat him, more so than the fact of the 1999 fight.

 

Absolutely.

 

Or K2/Universum made Puritty a lowball offer so he’d reject it and they could claim they tried. I’d like to see details and whether they offered Ross A-side money since he won the first fight.

 

Wlad was never beating Sanders in 2004. Also Purity turning Wlad rematch down is a none story. Purity was a journeyman who'd always have fought Wlad if he was offered the right money.

Vitali had the same injury Mayweather had against Castillo 1 and Morales had against Chavez (or was it Hernandez?) 1 of those. Those men fought through it and won, Vitali quit.

 

He was the guy who won by KO. He should make the A-side in the rematch IF the Klitschko clan REALLY wanted the rematch.

 

Didn't Wlad also tried to rematch Sanders but the latter was more interested in facing Vitali for the WBC title ?