Where do you rate Vitaly's chin in ATG terms?

A lot of guys haven't been knocked out, but until they face and take shots from real bangers you can't say for sure. I like Vit and think based on the few fights he's taking decent shots, he's got a damn solid chin. MAYBE an argument for top-10 all time. but he hasn't fought enough guys to warrant anything higher. Valero hasn't been knocked out: is his chin all time great at lightweight?

 

Dont forget Norten, he can bang as well.

Vitali does have a good chin, but he has faced two heavy punchers where he felt there best shots, in Sanders and Lewis (Peter doesn't count, never landed anything big on Vitali. You cant just boost him up to top 5 or 3 off of just 2 fights. One of which he looked to go down, the other one it was stopped in 6, and Lewis looked to be gaining his second wind, and I truly believe would of stopped Vitali a couple rounds later if they would of let it go.

 

Vitali took Lennox Lewis's best shots. Lewis is top 5-10 all time hardest hitter list.

And he withstood those shots.

Toney wouldn't of lasted 1 round with Lewis.

 

It's funny how people go on and on about the "stoppage". Come on, it was a CUT. It can happen. I don't dislike Lennox at all, I rate him highly and do think he was underprepared, but he got extremely lucky. Anyway, it has nothing to do with his chin at all, it's a CUT, why even mention it...

 

Good post:good Also, people are bringing up sanders up in too much reverence. he's still corrie sanders...not that big a deal. Without the Wlad win, no one would give a **** about him. Is he on anyone's top punchers of all time list? He's a good puncher, he's a southpaw with a quick straight left that is sneaky and deceptive. That's it. Not an all time banger

 

The same reason people think Mosley knocking out Margarito means he does not have a good chin.

They must have blinked every time Mosley landed a right hand missile, which happened practically once every 5 seconds, for the whole duration of the fight.

 

Toney has never been stopped in a fight, Vitali has twice. The Lewis fight was stopped in 6 rounds, they still had half the fight to go and Vitali looked like he was in a knife fight and was alot more beat up than Lewis was. Lewis would of finished Vitali if the fight went a couple more rounds, Lewis just got his second wind.

 

maybe, but toney's a fat middleweight not a heavyweight. I don't think that Wayne McCullough could take many of Lewis' shots either, doesn't mean he doesn't have a great chin

 

Toney has been withstanding big shots from legitimate Heavyweights for a good time now.

James Toney is not a Heavyweight, and that is why he deserves the nod.

 

exactly

 

:rofl :rofl

 

Exactly, the guy couldn't even finish off glass chinned Rahman when he had him hurt a few years before that fight, his punch must not be all that great. The fact that he knocked out Wlad, wow what an achievement. Wlad's chin is one of the worst I seen on a recognized Heavyweight champ since Patterson in the late 50's, early 60's. Yet he was only 185 pounds and several inches shorter than Wlad.

Vitali's got a good chin, I'm not saying he doesn't. Though has he proved it's granite? No, he only faced two big punchers, and in the one fight he was stopped with 6 rounds to go. So a fight and a half against 2 heavy hitters and people want to put in the top 3 or 5? Sorry, I wont do it.

 

Is that Brooke Burke in your avatar or is it another one of your He/She pics ?

 

Agreed.

BTW: Sanders was a formidable HW ... and if you put the Sanders fight into a Vitali/Haye context IMO it doesn't translate well for Haye who would be counting on getting results if on of one of his early rounds Sanders like punches lands.

Almost goes without saying that Haye probably wouldn't have been able to absorb 'with ease' those punches Sanders hit Vitali with.

 

Neither.