and Haye and Fury, but being a Klittard you wouldn't have noticed that - so exactly there is no pattern to my hate on fighters except for fighters who fake it. Be my guest if you want to support fighters who fake it. Now do you want to make a post contributing to this thread or not?
He may have been technically green in terms of experience at that level but he was at his physical peak in that fight. If Vitali was not prime then was it when he fought Johnson, Sanders or Williams? Because I don't think he was prime after his retirement due the injuries. I find it hard to believe he just happened to peak right after the Lewis fight. He had an extensive amateur career with over 200 fights, had been pro for over 6 years with 33 fights and had already experienced a loss. Personally I think Vitali was experienced enough when he faced Lewis.
Notice how he doesn't name names. He doesn't say who these "top heavyweights" are that Vitali beat because he knows that if he listed their names, you would laugh at him. Boxrec's ranking are a joke and have always been a joke. Everyone who knows boxing knows that. Sam Peter? Derek Chisora? A fat, old version of Corrie Sanders? Adamek who has won 2 gift decisions to be on Boxrec's ridiculous list? A fat Chris Arreola who has no good wins? Compare to Chris Byrd (a 2-time champion that Lennox ducked), David Haye (the REAL best heavyweight besides Wlad), and Ruslan Chagaev (former champ who would do to Vitali what Chris Byrd did to him). Wlad fights fit men who can box and have a brain. Vitali fights only fat, plodding punching bags. Has no one noticed that Vitali has never fought a slick defensive fighter? The one time he did so was when he fought Chris Byrd and got embarrassed. After that, his management kept him far away from the fast guys, like Eddie Chambers, Ruslan Chagaev, David Haye, Alex Dimitrenko, Tony Thompson, etc. And to those who think Vitali got unlucky against Byrd, I ask you: why didn't he ask for a rematch? In fact, why did Vitali DUCK the rematch after Byrd offered it to him?
Well, name names. Other than Vlad, who's better than David Haye? Vitali's resume isn't better than David's. Povetkin hasn't done nearly as much as Haye has. So?
:roflatsch Haye's best wins are Mormek, Glass Jawed Macaroni and Valuev. Vitali certainly has a better resume. Log off you idiotic Brittard. Haye can't even finish a training camp at this point and has had one fight in almost 2 and a half years.....
Solis, Adamek, Chisora, Charr are very solid especially the way he beats them. Solis KO 1, Adamek dominated and stopped, Chisora dominated, Charr battered, bloodied and stopped. Arreola, Johnson, Gomez, Peter all stopped and dominated.
Guys he beats with ease are mounting comebacks and still relevant. Adamek beat from pillar to post is again in a position to fight for the title. Arreola beaten to a pulp is again rellevant. Charr still people talking about him. Chisora resurrected his career.
I'd say Adamek, Peter and Chisora are all good wins and Arreola a solid win. But the rest are forgettable. Solis has done nothing at heavyweight, yes he was a very good amateur but as a pro his highlight moment was an impressive KO over a gatekeeper in Barrett. This is on a par with Bowe beating Gonzalez. Being a great amateur doesn't make you a great pro. Hell china chin Khan has had a more successful transition into the pro game than Solis. Charr has done nothing as a pro either. He's still somehow living off the attention he got in losing to Vitali. Who has he beat? Answer nobody, his best win was against an old Williams who even in his prime was a domestic level heavyweight. Gomez was a good cruiser but a poor heavyweight. He lost to Darnell Wilson for christ sake who lost 10 or his last eleven fights and than one win was against Gomez. Johnson is durable but that's it, any kind of movement and he is befuddled. Look how easily Fury beat him.
fair comment, i was thinking the same myself after i wrote that, it does sort of leave a very small time-span between fighting lewis and retirement to say he was suddenly a much better fighter in that slot. You have to take into account that the lewis fight was on short notice though(albeit for both men). I still think vitali holds his own any against any heavyweight, i just cant see anyone bombing him out or completetly and utterly schooling him.
The whole he took the fight on short notice argument is ridiculous in my opinion. Both were preparing to fight different opposition on the same card and both had already signed to fight each other later that year in the autumn so while both were not 100% prepared to face each other both knew they would fight each other soon.
And he came back 4 years out of the game in his late 30's to win a belt with no warm up fight. Few have done that!