Vitali's comeback. Very dominant

Foreman was 42-47 years old fighting those guys. Vitali is 37-38 years old fighting these guys. Let's see how Vitali does at ages 42-47 if we are going to compare him to Foreman in that aspect. What about Larry Holmes? Defeated Undefeated Olympic Champion and top contender Ray Mercer at age 41. What comeback victory does Vitali have that can match this?

 

Erm, the sub text of this post was that he is highly avoided and can only fight who agrees to fight him. You did not answer the question, and you just spouted the trusted rhetoric of modern day pessimists.

 

In all honesty, I think Sam Peter and Ray Mercer are right at about the same level.. Neither was a glutant for training, and both were slow with limited defense, relying primarily on power and taking shots to the chin, in an effort to land a punch themselves. Peter has a bigger gut than Mercer and doesn't look pretty, but all in all, I don't see much of a difference between those two in terms of actual ability.... Also, while Holmes was a bit older, he fought 5-6 tune-ups before facing Mercer, whereas Vitali fought Peter fresh out of a four year retirement.. Who looked more dominant? Mercer nearly had Holmes out of there in round one.... Vitali controlled the action from the opening bell and forced a corner retirement after round 8.....

 

Well for 1 thing Holmes was much older than Vitali. I think Mercer is much more the skilled, Peter's stronger though

Peter wouldn't have retired in the 8th if the WBC if it wasnt for the open scoring. Its like going for a personal record and clock watching as you run, it makes you want to give up when you're off schedule

 

I don't recall too many picking Peter over Vitali. People forget how vulnerable he had looked against McCline. On hindsight the Maskaev win wasn't much, nor the Toney wins necessarily.

Mercer wasn't great either but he did demolish Morrison in brutal fashion, and went onto give Holyfield & Lewis a difficult time.

 

I agree,

I thought very highly of Ray Mercer at the time.. But let's not forget that he also lost to Jesse Ferguson ( albeit fighting with an injured shoulder ), and was being completely outclassed by Francesco Damiani before landing a bomb that broke his nose in the 9th.. Of course Peter struggled mightly with a blown up old James Toney, but frankly I wouldn't be surprised to see the same Toney eek out a decision over a prime Mercer... As I said before, I really don't rate Peter or Mercer as being any better than the other, but rather equals with perhaps only a margin of difference..

 

Boxers are a lot like fine wine.. The older their legacies the better they seem to get with age.. By this point, Bob Pastor must be the equivalent of a 1945 bottle of Chateau Mouton, priced at about $114,614.00 a bottle...

 

I think Mercer is better. He is more durable, pretty much equal power, Peter's clubbing power has been overrated since the Jeremy Williams KO, he is more skilled in my view (actually has an effective jab) and usually in better physical condition. Both essentially get by with being strong and tough but I see Mercer getting the better of it if they ever were to fight in their primes.

Toney struggled badly with Rahman (the first time), who has a strong jab like Mercer's, so I'm not too sure about him winning against Mercer. Certainly not the Toney of the second Peter fight, he looked just horrible and has continued to under-perform ever since.

 

While I can agree that Mercer may have had better boxing skills than Peter, I don't see him as being in a whole other category... There was perhaps a short duration, consisting of maybe a few fights, where Mercer's skills seemed to be improved, but I wouldn't define his whole career by it.. He was defensively, a very poor fighter, had little movement, and only had a serviceble jab for a brief period. We also have to give Peter credit for his admirable efforts against a prime Wlad..

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O5BfnhmT2A[/ame]

 

Lennox TKO 6 Vitali

 

VITLAY was the lucky one in that fight, not Lewis. Lucky that the doctor stopped it and saved his eyesight and the inevitable KO that was coming in the next couple of rounds.

Lewis retired because he knew he was slipping and was a smart enough man to get out before he lost to a bum, simple as that.

18 million dollars, is that all? Hardly tempting to a guy like Lewis I'd have thought.