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

You do not get it.

Vitaly never fought the no.2 regarded heavyweight on planet, which was Byrd. He fought the WBC organization no. 2. you cannot be serious that this is the right way to get lineage, completely leaving out Byrd, who btw had a win over Vitaly.

As for Foreman, he beat the man and got lineage, he didn´t lose like Vitaly, therefor he had not to unify.

It´s beyond me how one can argue that way, getting a lineage through a loss.

Only on planet Klitschko.

 

Yes, beating Byrd would be more credible than beating Sanders.

Sanders was a career journeyman who got a major upset win when he toppled Wlad but he never maintained a position at the top of the division and only held the WBO Title and never defending. Having a lot of potential and being a career underachiever though he may have been Sanders simply was not a consistant world class heavyweight. He was a one-hit wonder.

Byrd, on the other hand, maintained his position as one of the best heavyweights in the world for the better part of five years. From 2000 to 2005 he was in the top 10 rated fighters in the division and for most of that he was in the top 3, he was an former WBO Champ and an IBF Champion with four successful title defenses to his name. Light-fisted or not, he was a bigger scalp than Sanders anyway you look at it. He achieved more on the world stage, and was more consistant at the top level, than Sanders was.

 

Byrd´s feathers before April 2004: W12 Mo Harris, W12 David Tua, W12 Evander Holyfield, W12 Fres Oquendo

Now besides the knockout of Wladimir tell me whom did Sanders beat to
be more credible than Byrd.

 

So you'll accept that Wladimir's two comprehensive beatings of Byrd are noteworthy acheivements and testament to his atg greatness then?


And I'd liked to have seen a peak Sanders vs any of the 90's stars of the hw scene, he would have been a mare for all them but never got the chance of a title fight until 2003.

 

Wlad's wins over Byrd are certainly noteworth achievements that place him in a the top class of heavyweight. On their own they dont make him great but they do contribute to his position as a great.

Sanders was his own worst enemy in terms of progression of his career. He based himself in South Africa and didn't really care to make his name in America. Saying that, had he not lost to Rahman in 2000 he might have gone on to have a shot against Lennox Lewis in 2001. And, frankly, I've favor Lewis to beat him ninty-nine times out of one-hundred - Sanders didn't have the skill or conditioning to beat a fully focused Lewis but he always had a punchers chance - and I can never see Sanders beating the 90's version of Holyfield.

 

yeah, but Lewis never faced a guy like Sanders in his career: a big, fast, hard punching south paw.

regards the Rahamn loss, Sanders could easily have won that and I thought the stoppage was a bit premature, but Rahman certainly still rates, or rated, Sanders as the hardest puncher he ever faced and we saw what that Rahman did to Lewis in his next fight just as we saw what Sanders did to the young Wladimir also.

 

Sanders was undoubtedly a big punching guy with a lot of potential, but his lack of dedication meant that was potential unfulfilled. And, Rahman rating Sanders as the hardest puncher he ever faced is all well and good but Sanders didn't lay him out like Lewis did, did he?

 

Haha it's hilarious how Klitschko fans like to sell Corrie Sanders as a monster. Idiots the lot of em.

 

because prime Sanders was never good enough for a title shot.

but when hes retiring age then....transformation!.... its all doors open for a shot at a watered down devalued K brother title.

Sanders is actually the reverse of what you claim, hes the proof of how bad HW boxing became after the 90s.

 

Vitali took the fight on less than 2 weeks notice. If he had time to train, he would have been better / sharper. Lewis was a very good older fighter, and weighed in with clothes on.

No one made Lewis look like this. Down 4- 2 on all three cards and dead tired, its hard to see Lewis winning on points. A Dr. stopped the fight from a cut that really wasn't bleeding much at that point in time.

There is a reason why Lennox did not take the re-match.

 

Vitaly had exactly the same time to train as Lennox, both took the fight on 2 weeks notice. Besides Vitaly had a fight on the undercard of Lennox vs. Johnson scheduled, against Cedric Boswell, so he he was in shape.

When you´re honest to yourself you will agree that Lennox didn´t look in his best shape.

Vitaly gave Lennox a tough fight, that´s nothing i deny. But to say the fight was onesided is simply a lie. Vitaly did great early on, was even able to hurt Lennox at one point, but after the 3rd Lennox was more and more in control of the fight, gaining the momentum, especially landing the much cleaner and more damaging punches.

The cut was really bad and the point of stoppage wasn´t bleeding. The point was that his eye was in danger of severe injury, as Vitaly was taking more and more punishment.

 

and its the same reason every other HW champion didn't make defences at age 38.

all the evidence is against you, theres barely 1 or 2 hw champions who defended at that age.

why would you argue for a losing argument?

 

Fought mostly stiffs while holding the WBC title hostage, never beat the best fighter in the division, lost to the 2 best fighters he ever face including an embarrassing quit job he never attempted to avenge and was kicked off the Olympic team for being a steroid cheat. Besides that he's done some pretty good stuff.

 

there is no hw champion who was kicked off the Olympic team for being a drug cheat, period. amazingly stupid, but still amazing.

or one who lost to a MW, or ran in terror from a rematch from them. its pretty damn unbelievable for a shw to run in fear from a mw. let alone one with a world title.

two amazing firsts from vitman there, which will likely never be surpassed.

 

Not a valid excuse. Vitali had the same amount of official preparation time as Lewis and claimed he'd personally been preparing for the fight for a year.