Vitali's ATG Ranking?

Dempsey who was past his prime and had not fought in 3 years??? Surely you can better than that??? (I believe Tunney is a bad style match-up anyway and IMHO would beat anyversion of Dempsey...even though I wouldn't pick him over anyother top 25 atg..but that is speculation)...The fact is he beat a past prime dempsey on a 3 year layoff....But perhaps you are amazed by johnson beating an old Jeffries or Leon beating Ali...Norton absolutely one of my favs, does not have the credentials and has far worse loses....FAIL!

I don't even want to defend Vitali, but you disregard everything of his and hold no one else to that standard.

 

That is why we cannot use hypotheticals.....You go Lewis, I go Frazier Ruskal might go Vitali....many would go Ali....but none of them van be proven!

Lewis has far worse loses than Frazier, a HW who loses to Mccall/Rahman certainly has flaws that would be exposed by boxers who are far more accomplished than them...We can poke holes in anyone which is why I like resume rather than hypotheticals!

 

How do you know its in the books? Vitali could fight on if he losses the election.


Legacy can be defined in many ways and since fighters from different time lines can not fight each other, we have to look at the stats and compare them vs the entire field of history.


Vitali has one of the highest KO% in history.

Vitali has the best rounds won to rounds lost ratio in history. Never behind on the cards after 3 rounds.

He never been floored by a punch.

He came back to win a belt in his mid 30's, after a 4 years off with no warm up fights! At age 41, he's still on top.


Vitali has made many title defenses and has achieved the #1 rank by Ring magazine, ESPN, Box Rec, Fight News, etc...


So he has the resume. If we are talking head to head, he would blow out many past great such as Jack Johnson, and Rocky Marciano.


Vitali is top 10 for me.

 

Lewis showed they were freak results by avenging them emphatically. Critics will point to McCall's breakdown but Lewis could only beat who was in front of him. Lewis' ATG status also has to be weighed against his habit of not preparing for fights or not taking his opponent seriously. When he was on his day (and on occasion when he was not) he was in a different class. The Klitschko's between them do not have a single win that compares to Holyfield or even the shell of Tyson, or devastating knockouts against fighters of the same calibre as Ruddock and Golota, and all we hear about are rounds won and KO % :nut

I'm all about the resume too, hence why I think it's laughable than anyone considers Vitali in the top 20. If he beat everyone in devastating fashion it may be a different story, but he doesn't and hasn't for a long time.

 

See what I mean, mostly abstract notions that no-one has ever cared about before or since atsch Not a single HoFer on his resume despite fighting in two eras, and his best win was a loss. That's what history will remember.

 

What fellow HOF ers were available for Vitali/Wlad to fight outside of each other...Please don't say that you belive they should have to fight one another to prove greatness. They are in a weak era...so was Joe Louis, Jack dempsey....What HOF er did Tyson beat...Spinks??? Perhaps aa a LHW.

They have dominated a weak division,,,do we penalize them for a weak era??? Who have they missed?