Vitali's resume may be a little weak but some of his feats are actually amazing

so you dont think that getting stopped by three more aged legends would have enhanced Vitalis resume further?Surely this makes sense by your logic - 3 times better than getting stopped by Lewis!!! then why do you think Lewis stopping him enhances Vits resume?
Surely you must recognise that Vitali could have been greater had he got stopped by old Holyfield, Riddick and Tyson too?

 

so which titles did his brother have? were they not HW titles too?has wlad been conning us all along? please spill the beans.

 

then surely its a win win times three if he'd let tyson and holyfield rip his face off before they retired.vitali missed out, it seems, according to you, he could have been 3 times greater than you claim by getting stopped three times by golden oldies and not justonce.
why do you not agree?

 

1 - Lewis wasn't Undisputed Champ when he fought Vitali. He was undisputed Heavyweight King and the Lineal Champ, but the IBF Title was held by Chris Byrd and the WBA Title was held by Roy Jones. Lewis held only one of the three titles needed at the time to claim the distinction of Undiputed Heavyweight Champion. Therefore Vitali can hardly claim to be Undisputed Champion by picking up the WBC belt after Lewis dropped it and retired. He hadn't ripped it from Lewis's grip - which is why he's never been Lineal Champ - and didn't hold the two other titles required to claim that position.

2 - Lewis believed himself to have many years left because he thought the division weak and was deluding himself as to his own ability to maintain a high standard with reduced-to-little-to-no training. Struggling with Vitali as he did made him realise that there was at least one dangerous opponent out there who would be after him and that he wasn't as good as he used to be or thought he was and was on the decline. I'm sure that if Lewis - like Vitali for the last few years - had no potential opponent who could challenge him then he would - like Vitali has - have milked the WBC Title for all it was worth and clung onto his position at the top fighting no-hopers or longshots, but that's one luxury Vitali has enjoyed that was never on the cards for Lewis.

 

1 - Lewis was deluding himself into thinking he was a level above everyone in the else and could fight on without putting any real effort into anything and still stay on top. Struggling against Vitali forced him to accept reality. He didn't want tough fights at that stage in his career, he wanted easy fights for easy money, he wasn't prepared to put himself through another tough fight and probably wasn't sure he could manage another tough fight anyway. So, Vitali played an important role in Lewis's decision to retire but he wasn't the only factor.

2 - Ruiz was WBA Champ and Byrd was IBF Champ when Vitali won the WBC Title. Ruiz won the Interim WBA Title in December 2003 and had it upgraded to a full title in February 2004 after Jones moved down to Light Heavyweight and vacated it, Byrd won the vacant IBF Title in December 2002 after Lewis relinquished it to fight Tyson instead, Vitali won the vacant WBC belt in April 2004 after Lewis relinquished it to retire. Ruiz had held the WBA Title for around two month before Vitali won the WBC while Byrd had been a World Champ for around a year and five months. Vitali was most certainly not the only title holder at the time and undisputably not the Undisputed Champion.

3 - There is no way to know whether Vitali remaining active instead of retiring between 2004 and 2008 would have seen him pick up every title in the division and become Undisputed Champ. We dont know what he might done during those years, we cant even speculate, and we certainly cant say whether or not Wlad would still have picked up all those titles anyway.

Facts remain unchange however, Wlad had fought for a longer uninterupted period, picked most of the titles and reduced the WBC Title to a paper one with little-to-no legitmacy and secondary importance, and has the better resume. The domination of this era by the Klitschko's is more due to work of Wlad than it is of Vitali.

 

Yes.

Even a close decision win would have been impressive enough after a four year layoff and two surgeries and NO tuneup fights.

But not only did Vitali beat the current titleholder, he absolutely thrashed him........ after coming back, COLD, from four years outta the ring.

Didn't merely beat him, but THRASHED him.........:good

That feat was unprecedented in heavyweight history............and is certainly (among other aspects of his career) a testament to Vitali's greatness.

 

Beating Peter is a testament to Vitali's greatness. Coming off of such a long lay off to beat a reigning world champion with no tune up fights in such dominating fashion is a great acheivement.

However that doesn't prove jack about what he might have done had he not retired after 2004.

 

Except for the fact that Vitali's face was so busted up that it required 60 stitches to fix and that rounds 3, 4 and 5 were highly competitive as Lewis woke up after his sluggish start, and 6th round was one that Lewis clearly dominated. It's hardly "destroying" your opponent if you require more work to repair the damage sustained during the fight than he does and you have three close rounds but lose the last round that was fought.

 

you could hit me 100 times, and i could hit you once and open a cut.

 

ok, deal. I will go first.

 

tko 6 he lost get over it, vitali was getting his ass whooped! if the fight would have continued vitali would have lost an eyeball. vitali died that night.