Lets face it. No one is coming back from the grave and your heros from the 80's and 90's are way into retirement. LIVE WITH IT.... It is what it is and either get over it or dont watch.
its hard for vitali to fight anyone great when all the top athletes are playing other sports like football, basketball, baseball. theres more money and publicity in those sports. vitali has killed everyone they have put in front of him. hes dominated his era about as much as anybody could
Vitaliy KlitscHKO has KOed a lot of strong oppoents - Hide, Norris, Bean, Donald, Kirk Johnson, Sanders, Peter, Gomez, Arreola, Kevin Johnson to name a few. He was also beating Byrd and Lewis but lost those fights due to injures.
This is one of those original threads with unique thoughts that only come along once in a life time. Asking a question no one could ever answer unless they looked and had two minutes time to really look closely. I have a lot to think about now. That's for sure.
To say he was beating Lewis is an overstatement.The fight was pretty much even, going back and forth. First of all, Vitali's cuts were caused by punches. Vitali has a habit of keeping his left hand low, Lewis exploited that with his overhand right hand. Lewis by TKO, nothing controversial. Byrd was also getting to Vitali, frustrating him.The fight was closer than the scorecards.Vitali inexplicably quit, there should not be too many excuses. Not exactly Vitali's finest hour there.
Strong opponents yes, but ATG worthy no. Like stated before, every knowledgable fan agrees that these opponents would not even have been contenders in the early to mid 90's.
He's beaten two guys who were rated in the top 3 by Ring at the time of his beating them. I'm sorry to say it, really, but that is utterly, utterly pathetic.
He will not fight Klitschko. Fine. But don't expect to be called the champion. Do that and Haye is champ too.
So, you don't want to count losses. Lewis TKO Vitali. Fight was pretty even. The cuts were caused by Lewis overhand right, Vitali has tendancy of keeping his left hand, well he did not get away with it against Lewis. Nothing controversial, Vitali fairly lost. When you talk about Vitali as an ATG, that is the fight that should be taken into account. Yet, Lewis was old, fat and out of shape.Other than that Vitali does not have an ATG resume. He was dominant and a long reigning champ but the opponents he faced are not impressive.
if the competition is so weak like klit huggers say why aren't the klits cleaning house and steamrolling through them?