Who is the best post-Lennox HW?

Agree. Head to head, Vitali is a monster against anyone but his record is very very very thin.

 

As a Vitali fan, I hate to say it but I have to agree. His quality of opposition was just as bad as Wilder's in reality.

One clear difference though is he dominated this level of opponent. Wilder in contrast, rocked by Molina, out boxed by Ortiz and Washington.

 

Wlad is at 5 all time in my opinion, Fury and Vitali both around top 20, with Fury a little higher than Vitali

 

Agreed but for me, the difference was, Vitali was fighting the best the division had to offer, where as Wilder was choosing to fight complete cans and not challenging himself against better opposition.

 

Wlad accomplishments (obviously)
Vitali head to head

 

True, Vitali definitely wasn't cherry picking like Wilder. The division was just weak and with Wlad beating up the other half of the division it meant there really were not that many great names for him to face.

 

I know everyone will make a case for wlad number 1 based on longevity but some of his defences were absolute garbage. Lepai, pianeta, ancient Rahman, mormeck, hugged povetkin to death.

also he never won the wbc.

fury beating wlad and wilder (should be twice) is much more impressive than a string of drawn out cans for longetivy.

fury has wins against the like of chisora, USS and hammer which are better than some of wlads defences. I would definitely fancy chisora to beat everyone listed above apart from povetkin

 

Kingpin

 

Vitali




Wlad

 

Vitali didn't look good against Vaughn Bean and Larry Donald. Those two fights were his last ones before facing Lewis, and I was expecting Lennox to dominate completely against Vitali, so unmpressive did he look against Bean and Donald. He stopped both but only when they got tired, in the first 8-9 rounds of both fights Vitali looked very pedestrian. I though Lewis would dominate and destroy him based on those two performances.

Then, later in his career, Vitali faced another slick fighter - Kevin Johnson. He won easily but couldn't land anything on elusive target, while in his previous fight against Arreola he looked very good. Against Johnson he won purely on activity because Kevin wasn't doing anything in the ring. But almost all Vitali punches missed the target.

Fury, I think, would fight Vitali exactly the same way he fought Wlad - move laterally, use his jab and counter him. Fury's much longer reach and higher speed would enable him to outbox Vitaly and win by UD in my opinion.

I actually think Tyson Fury is probably the third worst stylstic match up for Vitali in boxing history after prime Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes.

 

At the moment it's
Wlad
Vitali /Fury
A few more years and fights for Fury and who knows?

 

And knocked out by Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders, Lamon Brewster and Anthony Joshua. And on top of that, he was schooled by Tyson Fury.

Vitali was far better than his brother.

 

Best in consistency as in performing as a champ over a long spell, it's Wlad still, as Fury's first title reign didn't amount to much, but if Tyson chalks up a few more good wins, I would probably pick him. He's unbeaten and what he's done in two fights against Wilder is quite impressive.
Head to head, Fury would cause both Klitschkos problems even at their best, imo.

 

I have Fury as the GHWOAT.

Wlad is second.

Then you have the likes of:

Joshua
Lewis
Vitali

 

Interesting discussion..

Tricky one this.. Dominance at the top over a long period is as credible as any argument i suppose.. whereas Fury is more smash & grab.. but Fury unlike WK though has won EVERY divisional belt.. talent wise id say overall Fury is the best though.. he made me a believer.. he clearly has more in his box of tricks.. & he has zero losses too which needs taking into account.. Vitali like Fury had a noteworthy comeback also.. was out for 4 years & came back to immediately beat WBC champion Peter.. Wlad was akin to the Michalkzewski of the division though so id probably lean towards WK overall.. Depends on your criteria i suppose.. i think WK & Fury are probably locks for future HOF status (Vitali slightly less so but id say he eventually gets in too) now.. especially when you consider the adversity they faced.. one was written of as a chinny hype job early on & the other had a mental & physical breakdown yet both turned it around.. Fury has done it on the road too.. K2 could never really break America whereas Fury has smashed it..

Wlad
Fury
Vitali

right now.. if he wipes Joshua out though then he will have cleaned out his division & will surpass the brothers..