Who in history would beat Vitali Klitschko?

Stop with the pity party. Why do Klitschko fanboys dislike Frazier so much? We debate boxing here , not what posters like or dislike.
Do I look like some sort of Frazier fanboy to you? I don't fanboy any boxer. I debate the sport , thats all there is to it.

 

Nobody that is 250 lbs is a "modern giant".

 

Lewis, Tyson, Fury, Bowe - those are the guys that could beat him, but it's 50:50.
Holmes and Ali also stand a chance, but only at outpointing him.

 

Vitali was dominant over Byrd. Even one handed he was smacking him around and winning on points

Vitali retired in that fight because his shoulder was shredded. Byrd did not cause that injury, nor was he ever going to win any other way.

Vitali > Byrd and it's not even close.

 

All the more reason to gut it out and continue imo.

 

Unless you think it would be a career ending move to continue. Vitali was thinking exactly that, and the surgery afterword's proved him right.

The fact that anyone thinks a fighter should risk permanent injury for one win seems to me insane. Perhaps the haters wanted Vitali to be injured and never fight again. Thankfully VK was smarter than that.

In any case, Vitali was basically a one armed fighter for most of the fight and Byrd was still losing. Not sure what else needs to be said. Without the injury , and the worry that it caused VK, Byrd would have been likely knocked out.

 

Prime Lewis, hmmm...? Not 38 years old Lewis (TKO6).

 

Many a fighter beat him, Jack Johnson , Sam Langford , Jack Dempsey , Joe Louis , Tommy loughran , Jack Sharkey , Max schmeling, Rocky etc etc etc

 

Vitali was back in the ring 7 months later.Other fighters have continued with the same injury Buddy McGirt against Whitaker for one.

• McGirt went into the Whitaker fight with an injured left shoulder. He said the injury probably happened in December during sparring for his fight with Genaro Leon on January 12. A week after the Whitaker fight, he had surgery to reattach a tendon that had been pulled away completely from the front of his rotator cuff.

Many fighters have fought on with similar and worse injuries Danny Williams dislocated his shoulder against Mark Potter,carried on and ko'd Potter .Loughran had his forehead opened up by an accidental butt against Braddock and fought on with his face a mask of blood to take a decision.Ali,Abraham,Liston, and Kevin Finnegan finished fights with broken jaws,Lamotta with broken hands, Marciano with his nose split in two..
I don't hate Vitali, neither do I think he was the most courageous of boxers.I think Larry Merchant got it about right when he said," he doesn't have the mentality of a champion." Each fighter must make his own decision about injuries ,and should not be condemned for his actions, I think some fighters just," want it more ,"and I'll leave it at that.

 

It's easy to point out ones like Muhammad Ali and prime Mike Tyson, so I'll pick 3 more controversial ones.

David Tua, James Toney, and Sonny Liston. I think all three of them would most likely beat Vitali, especially Sonny.

 

You forgot Patterson, Ruiz, RJJ, Morrison, and Valuev.

 

You did not write me, but what do you mean by this?
Modern giant means largely height, & weight is very relevant if it is lean muscle mass. He normally weighed in the 240's, lean...
You can also throw in having modern training.

Vitali seems to easily qualify on all scores.
He also had a great amateur & kickboxing career over a dozen years. From Wikipedia:
Amateur boxing record: 195 wins, 15 losses.

Kickboxing record: 34 wins (22 knockouts,) 2 losses (2 knockouts.)
He was a kickboxing world champion six times (winning amateur world championships twice and [url]professional championship tournaments[/url] four times).[url][36][/url]

From size to all the varying training he did in various combat sports, who is more qualified to be a "modern giant" than he?

 

Welcome to the forum Zecora!

Liston with his strength power & length would have a good chance.
Tua? The size difference & awkward style of Vitali + his real world record makes him a big underdog.

Toney did not do much at HW. The fact that he could compete there with steroids & cherry-picking is a testament to his skills.

I see no universe where James Toney beats Vitali Klitchko.

 

Lewis was 37 against Vitali.

 

Wow, that's pretty harsh. I agree that Toney was by far at his worst at HW, but for one, the steroids he was on were used after surgery for the healing process, and even then, it was a pretty small trace amount. For two, he absolutely beat the brakes off of both John Ruiz and Evander Holyfield while in his late 30's, and took the WBF world title when he was 48. For three, he sparred with Vitali in the mid-2000s and held his own.

He was a much smarter fighter with serious power and great timing. I think if the two fought in 1998, with Vitali at 27 and Toney at 30, Toney has a real shot. At the very least, there is a universe where James Toney defeats Vitali Klitchko.

Well, I did say they'd be controversial picks. So I can't exactly be mad when somebody disagrees with them, lol. Thanks for the welcome