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

So why didn’t Byrd, Purrity, and Sanders fight the other brother after losing? It’s almost as if their careers were derailed and you’ve magically absolved them of all personal responsibility.

Wasn’t there also some guy named Lamon?

 

Tell me you know nothing about rotator cuff injuries without telling me you know nothing about rotator cuff injuries.

 

Whatever. Wlad’s team could have offered a rematch right away … at that point his ‘A-side’ share wasn’t exactly astronomical.

If they wanted the rematch, they surely could have paid Ross enough to make it happen. Obviously he wasn’t scared to take it — he fought him once and beat him and was willing to come fight his brother in the ol’ Klitschko Two-Step ‘you must beat my brother if you beat me’ that they were playing at the time.

 

You hopefully know this, but peoples’ economic situations can change. Maybe he needed the money when Vitali was offered and took it because it was the best he had. And his own value after beating Wlad was surely as high as it had ever been.

His value for a rematch closer to the time it happened should have been enough to merit a big payday seeing how he had KTFO Wlad and it was Wlad who stood to gain by avenging the defeat. If they wanted to make it happen, they could have made him an offer he cannot refuse. Or they could have offered again AFTER Vitali. Or anytime in between.

This looks pretty clearly like the ‘make an offer he won’t take so we can say he turned it down without risking getting KTFO again’ deal. K2/Universum was printing money at the time. They could have afforded to make it.

 

Taking a six-rounder to bide time and stay busy while mulling or waiting on bigger offers is what a guy with no promotional pull who’s a high-risk guy has to do.

Obviously Wlad’s side wasn’t offering him an immediate rematch.

Wlad didn’t want none. If he did, his promoter would have made it happen.

Klitschko two-step was a thing.

 

Wlad beat numerous guys better than Purrity and had no real reason to rematch a guy who consistently lost to gatekeeper types.

Vitali fighting him is irrelevant as he was never in a position to force a rematch

 

A guy who knocked him the **** out.

When two people fight head to head, we don’t have to extrapolate from other results what MIGHT happen.

We know for a fact that when they fought, Ross won emphatically.

We know that Wlad did not fight him again, that whatever offer his team finally made for a rematch they waited until WK won six more fights before making any offer, and that in reality what happened was Wlad did the Klitschko 2-Step like he did with Corrie Sanders and sent in his brother to clean up his own mess (repayment no doubt for Vitali doing the Klitschko 2-Step and having Wlad take care of Chris Byrd rather than trying to show the first fight was, indeed, a fluke).

Absolutely none of that is conjecture. It’s 100% fact. Go look it up.

 

Shut up. Wlad can beat the shi* out of Puritty and he knows it. “I just let him punch himself out. I’m sure he would’ve knocked out a lot of guys before that. I just happened to take a good punch,” Puritty said years later. "I feel to this day that had he been more patient and boxed, he would’ve won."

Do you want Wlad to go to the Wichita Lexus dealer now and beat him?

 

The idea of Purrity taking a six rounder because he was mulling big offers is hilarious.

 

See, the way this works is we value what people actually do over what you say the CAN do.

He didn’t beat Puritty. A guy he actually fought. He got stopped by a journeyman. Loss by KO … it was so bad that Wlad’s cornerman came into the ring to rescue him.

Yet you extrapolate that Wlad should be credited with a win because of what you say he COULD have done? Or that we should just take it on faith that Wlad would win a rematch and then act like he did when he, in fact, did NOT fight him again? Because Ross said some nice words and was magnanimous after whupping his ass?

LOL.

 

From what I understand they gave Vitali Klitschko the lineal championship because they didn't think Chris Byrd was fitting to be lineal

In actuality Chris Byrd had a better claim at the time

He held a belt for longer and had more significant wins including the win over Vitali Klitschko (regardless of the circumstances he won the fight)

 

He wasn’t a hot fighter. He got beaten up by Wlad and went on to make unspectacular defenses of some meaningless belt on DKP cards that nobody watched.

Vitali was red hot after the Lewis fight and so was Sanders after beating Wlad. That’s why things unfolded the way they did. Public perception was more important than whatever scholarly argument.