Vitalis comeback title reign 2008-2012

He probably will yeah. Vitali did have to battle injuries though so his career was derailed to a point.

 

It was a poor reign.
But I give him a lot of credit for beating Peter after a 4 year lay off and injury, even if Peter didn't exactly look 100% and up for it.

 

The thing with Vitali is he is one of those guys that is an opposing manager's nightmare. As in, when a guy loses to him, they are never the same. That is a whole different risk to consider and the major effects it has on a career. With this guy, it is not just a loss, it's a long and hard rebuild if possible.

 

I think there is a lot of truth to this. Vitali did tend to punish opponents. Sanders, Arreola, Briggs etc. all got a steady and harsh beatdown.
Vitali threw thudding, hurtful punches that rarely knocked a fighter cold, but broke them down bit by bit.
It was a slow, systematic hammering.

 

Vitali is such a weird guy to rate. He was very effective in his unusual style, knew how to use his reach, had heavy hands and use clever movement to get the right angles and positions.

He was consistent, dominated most of his opponents, was very successful at a late age. But his opposition was horrible. While most people thought he was the better fighter H2H as opposed to his brother, Wlad is the one who did the heavy lifting in beating the better opposition, was the real champ and Vitali a beltholder.

Vitali fought well against Lewis, by far the best fighter he faced, but lost. He was winning against Byrd, but lost. The guys he did beat weren't even "the best of a bad bunch", Wlad was the one who for the most part was beating the other best HWs out there.

I don't blame them for not fighting each other, but it is what it is. How do you rate someone who was dominant against so many of his opponents and had impressive longevity, but faced such mediocre opposition, and not the top opposition around?

 

Never did rate Vitali.

He held the WBC hostage against such weak opposition. He should have let Wlad have that belt.

 

Depends on which top 10 you're referring to. If you're looking at ring magazine annual ratings then no. But some of those guys were ranked by ring within the months that he fought them while others were ranked by various governing organizations. The same can be said for many of Wlad's opponents and if truth be told he would have been facing a lot of those guys had Vitali not been around to bounce them out of the picture. Odlanier solis never kept his conditioning and fizzled within a short time in the pros. But he was a highly touted prospect with serious amateur pedigree. Arreola was always considered limited but also dangerous. Chisora was robbed against Helenius prior to fighting Vitali and KO'd Malik Scott after fighting Vitali. And beating Peter after returning from a four layoff to hand him his first stoppage loss was admirable.. I'll also ad that despite being in his late 30's to early 40's and being on the comeback trail, it impressed me that most of those guys never won a single round against him... While its true that some of his opponents during that time frame were limited, too old, or just poor, it should also be noted that few top raters wanted anything to do with him. I don't think Atlas wanted povetkin to fight Vitali and Haye clearly didn't either, nor did Valuev. And needless to say he wasn't going to fight his own brother. You can only fight what's readily willing and available.. And Sometimes things need to be put in proper perspective. Of course Wladimir will go down in history as the better of the two brothers.. But who can you think of aside from perhaps Mendoza who would dispute that in the first place?

 

A lot of Tyson's opponents got permanently ejected from having real ranking after fighting him too. It wasn't the best run ever, but Peter, Chisora, Solis, and Arreola were pretty legit. I'll take Vitali's old-guy resume over Foreman's due to consistency and not losing or even having close fights.

 

Both Haye and Valuev back out of fights with Vitali. Vitali was avoided even in old age.

No one came back with a 4+ year layoff past the age of 36 and beat more ranked opponents in the top ten at heavyweight.

The Adamek fight ( 2011 ) was a masterful performance. Adamek had beaten Arreola, Estrada ( USA super heavyweight 2004 ), Banks, and Grant prior, and after proved he still had it by beating Chambers a year after the loss in 2012

 

In ten comeback fights between the ages of 37-41 Vitali Klitscko fought a combined 88 rounds. And how many does anyone think he lost? three perhaps?

 

Good point. Haye chased a fight with Wlad but showed signs of actual fear around Vitali.
Vitali also stepped up and trounced Sanders, who had dominated Wlad.
He gave Lewis a terrific fight; I honestly do not think Wlad could gave done the same to Lewis.
So yes, poor opposition but when he had to step up he did.

Just watched bits and pieces of his fighs with Kirk Johnson and Arreola...Vitali is such a hard guy to fight. So awkward and at times ungainly, but very effective.

 

Agreed. Had Wlad lost to someone during that 2008-2012 period or simply chose to retire, Vitali would have had the green light to chase down the title and I'm about 99% sure he would have gotten it.

 

Peter and Adamek were ranked in the top 2. Johnson, Arreloa, Gomez, and Solis were in the bottom part of the top ten.

So we have 6 top ten contenders beaten. Possibly seven. I think Chisroa was ranked in the top ten when he fought Vitali. Can anyone verify?

To clean all these guys out, losing maybe three rounds is amazing.