Who has Vitali beaten?

Tyson is my #14 all-time heavyweight principly because of his poor resumé - being that he lacks a real quality A level win - and his lack of longevity. Thing is, his resumé is still much better than Vitali's.

His win over Holmes - although Holmes wasn't at his best - still trumps any of Vitali's wins, and the likes of Biggs, Bruno, Williams, Thomas, Tucker and co trump wins over Peter, Arreola, Johnson, Sosnowski, Obed Sullivan, Vaughn Bean, Hide, whoever else you want to add.

Also, he was THE champion, not just a belt-holder - albeit a secure one - as Vitali is now. He single handedly unified the titles. He cleaned out his division. When did Vitali beat Lewis, Tyson, Holyfield or even the likes of Ruiz, Rahman, Golota, Byrd etc?

His longevitiy isn't as great as people give him credit for. Fair enough he's made a comeback, but he's still a relatively young 38 even if his body did break-down, he didn't turn pro till 24 I think, and he's taken 4 years out.

He hit world level at '99, even if we are counting the whole time he's been a pro and active since then - despite the fact he dropped out after losing his title to Byrd and fought terrible opposition like blown-up past-prime cruiserweight Orlin Norris, journeyman Ross Purritty and Vaughn Bean, he's been at world level for 7 years so far. That's not that long by any means.

Tyson when you work it out was only around true world level for about 7 years aswell. But on the basis that he cleaned out the division and has a superior resumé, how can Vitali be anywhere near him? Bare in mind Tyson is superior H2H aswell if you put a lot into ranking that. If I've got Tyson at #14, there's no way Vitali cracks my top 20.

 

If he was really dominating, wouldnt he be fighting more tham 2 or 3 times a year and wouldnt he take out guys like Sosnowski and Gomez and Johnson in 3 rounds or less? Wouldnt he have beaten an out of shape Lewis or not quit against Byrd? Wouldnt he have offered Haye at least a decent contract and not made Haye fight his brother, uncle, dad, etc.? Wouldnt he have just given Valuev the 2 mill and fought him for the sake of beating him and not worried about the money? Wouldnt he have kept fighting and not "retired" for a couple of years and fought the best out there? Can you imagine what Lewis would have done to some of th clowns that this guy fought? Even an old Foreman would have decapitated Sosnowski at age 45. This guy gets waaaaaay too much credit in my book and hopefully people will see that one day. Until then, you guys will march around hailing him as the greatest and not even looking at his pathetic resume. Ali never quit in his prime. Lewis never quit in his prime. Hell, Ali fought Norton for 15 rounds with a broken jaw. A BROKEN JAW not a damaged shoulder. Come on man.

 

don't agree with the tyson placement but as always, stellar post tommy:good

 

You mention Foreman, who got very lucky against Axel Schulz, the same Schulz who was beaten into retirement by Wlad. Gomez, Sanders and Arreola would be contenders in the 90's. Moorer would be cannon fodder for either Klitschko.

 

Well if you are asking people who HAVE BEEN in the top 3 when Vitali beat their ass, then Sam Peter and Corrie Sanders.

 

Tyson cleaned out the division and beat a lot of decent HWs, and a lot of tomato cans, but his most important wins came over an atg LHW in Spinks and a 39-year old, horribly out of shape Holmes, who had been retired for two years. That fight was a joke, even more laughable than Cooney's win over Norton.

 

Absurd statement. Unlike old Norton who never did anything after Cooney, Holmes beat number one ranked Ray Mercer and gave a reasonably good account of himself when he dropped a 4 point decision against a prime Evander Holyfield in 1992. Please get a clue. atschatschatsch

 

You haven't an idea of what you're talking about. I doubt you've even watched the Holmes fight. He was 39, out of shape, had absolutely no legs, and no jab. He looked pathetic.

 

Vitali can't secure a place next to Ali or Lewis, because the big names are missing in today's heavyweight division. Even if he ever has the chance to beat Haye and accomplish this in a convincing fashion this won't help him to become one of the best ATGs.

Having said this, I really believe that he would mean danger to every ATG of the past. He lost to Lewis, fine, but he was very very competitive. Tyson would've lost against him - no doubt. Ali, Foreman, I don't know, but all fights would've been close. Vitali is one tough SOB and would've been a hard nut to crack for every heavyweight fighter ever lived.

 

Yes, Larry looked awful in that fight. I don't think it's hard to 'Outbox' Ray Mercer. I think that's been established throughout his career. Ray was always dangerous, and has a great chin but could be outboxed fairly easily especially by a atg verteran who had ENOUGH skills left at the time. I'm sorry a PRIME Larry Holmes kicks the crap out of Prime Tyson. There's always a punchers chance, but Prime Larry makes Tyson look average.:thumbsup

 

I've watched the fight, amateur. But that's a nice attempt to turn the argument back on me. Why don't you just admit that you were wrong? It'd be a refreshing change. As I mentioned, that same out-of-shape Larry Holmes beat the hell out of number one ranked Ray Mercer and held his own with Evander Holyfield. You need to take a quick boxing refresher course.

 

I agree. Holmes' jab would have battered Tyson. An over the hill, 38-39 year old Holmes took the Tyson fight on 5 weeks notice (iirc) after a two year layoff. Whatever he went on to do after that fight is irrelevant. For the Tyson fight he looked like someone's fat old uncle who'd been hitting the sauce.

 

You're clueless.:good

 

If Ray Mercer was so easy to outbox, why did he come within a point of beating a Prime Lennox Lewis? Why did he outjab Lennox all night long? It thought Lennox was a great boxer? You goofs don't have a clue.