Vitali Klitschko's power.

It's a well known fact that Vitali fought second and third tier heavyweights for most of his career.

 

I have to respectfully disagree. Besides Ali, Lewis fought and beat better heavyweights than anyone else. At that point in his career he was looking to make the biggest money fights. Byrd offered to public attraction or money. I believe Lewis would have beaten him the same way Wlad did and would have stopped him mid rounds. Lewis also wanted a fight with Roy Jones who I also believe he would have destroyed but would have brought a lot of money to the table. This to me is more of a business decision than a duck. Jmo.

 

Well, you don't get points for someone you would have beaten. Byrd was a mandatory and Lewis ducked him because of the money reasons. Just like Holmes ducked Greg Page. A duck is a duck, no matter the reason.

 

This is your opinion, and its a fair one. I just happen to see it a different way.

 

I actually think he may have struggled more than Wlad did but he probably would have won yes.

 

The difference between those two is that Lewis held two reputable titles and still had the WBC belt after giving up the IBF strap. Usyk dropped one of multiple straps a while back but still had plenty of silverware.

 

What do the following ranked boxers have in common?
Haye
Vaulev
Povetkin
Chagaev
Ibragimov
Boytsov
Dimitrenko
Ruiz
Oquendo
Tyson
Tua
Fury
Grant
Ibeabuchi
McCline
Jefferson
Pulev
Rahman
Toney
Jones Jnr
Maskaev
Helenius
Thompson
Brewster
Holyfield
Chambers
Two things.
1.They were all ranked when Vitali was.
2.None of them fought him.

 

Holmes had nothing to do with King paying off Ort.King used intermediaries to make his payoffs to Ort ,Paddy Flood and Al Braverman being two of them.The Klits had a standard deal as K2 if you wanted a title chance you had to sign for another fight in the event of you winning ,the opponent to be of their choosing.
I don't think its right to be accusing Holmes of paying off writers ,unless you have some proof of this ,and if you have, please share it with us?

 

John Ort of Ring magazine got indicted and Don King was investigated but some witness backed off and were threatened. Flash Gorden, boxing writer was beaten up. Tom Prater was lifted as contender to give Holmes an elimination fight. King - Holmes and team knew the way the games were played and money that was given to the ABC organizations because they all knew the game.
Contenders were created in order to avoid the most dangerous and no unification fights were made. The 80's were corrupt and probably the worst ever.
Look it up!
I knew many insiders and boxing people, and it was common knowledge in the inside circle but outside people could also see if very clearly.

 

What a joke - at a quick glance I could see everyone on the list lost to someone that either Wlad or Vitali beat dominantly or were beaten by an opponent of theirs - very weak - give me one legitimate name

 

Not fighting Byrd in favor of dealing with his other mandatory challenger (Vitali), and getting paid to do in the process, is called a sound business strategy. Especially, when a) the other mandatory is actually marketable and, b) the entity paying you not to fight Byrd is said boxer's promoter - lol.

Johnson pulled out of a Lewis bout with an injury, so how you come to the conclusion that Lewis avoided Johnson is anybody's guess. Vitali might have been revitalized when he beat Johnson, but Johnson had clearly been enjoying more time at the buffet than at the gym during his time off, hadn't he?

Lewis retired – permanently – meaning he declined to fight anyone – ever again.

 

So, to be clear, you're using 'Fight Math' to delegitimize ranked fighters.

 

I'm aware of the scandal ,The Life And Crimes Of Don King,
by Jack Newfield goes into some detail about it ,but there is no suggestion Holmes was complicit in the corruption and of paying off bribes to get boxers ranked ,which is what you linked him to.Mark Kram was forced to resign from Sports Illustrated for accepting bribes from King. As to Holmes , Larry may have been the beneficiary of having a soft passage against the unqualified Prater,but that doesn't make him guilty of any wrong doing and Holmes himself was robbed by King . The tournament fell apart with Alex Wallua's and Flash Gordon's revelations and Holmes only fought that one bout against Prater,a year later he beat Shavers in the WBC eliminator.Since you haven't produced any of the proof I requested, I take it you don't have any,and my point stands.

 

They were all Ring ranked top ten contenders when Vitali was ,either a ranked contender or held a version of the title.
The record shows that Vitali usually only fought ranked men when there was either a title at stake or it was an eliminator.
Instead he was content fighting names like those below.
Mahone
Sullivan
Hoffman
Puritty
Donald
Williams
Sosnowski
Chisora
Arreola
Solis
Briggs
Charr

If you cannot see the difference ,then that's on you!

 

Why was Holmes even brought into this discussion? The answer......to deflect from talking about who Vits didn't fight. This is what rabid Klitschko fans do. They bring fighters that have nothing to do with the conversation in be it Holmes, Johnson, Dempsey or even Joe Louis.