Who were the top 5 heavyweights of the 90`s?

It means Lewis didn't have any trouble landing punches on Vitali whose defensive strategy was to block with his face.

Do you even know what the thread is about anymore?

 

Vitali was the only guy to stop Adamek anywhere close to his prime, yet 90s Foreman could neither stop nor beat Glass Tommy.

 

He also thinks it’s a big deal how Alex Stewart cut up Foreman.

 

Morrison got on his bike and headed for the hills against Foreman, yet he stood his ground and slugged it out with Ruddock and Lewis. Strange change of strategy.

You can't go 5 minutes without going off topic. Vitali wasn't a top 5 fighter in the 90's by any stretch of the imagination and losing to an old Lewis certainly doesn't help his case. If you want to turn this into yet another anti Foreman thread, feel free to bump any of the 3 dozen other ones you got owned in or just make a new one since you're obsessed with the guy.

 

Yeah, Foreman had cement feet. That’s why he successfully carried out a strategy that he was otherwise inept at.

I’m correcting your own bs. If you don’t want to talk about Vitali, don’t talk about him.

 

Correcting me on what? I never said Foreman was fast. I never even claimed Foreman was better h2h threat than Vitali in the 90's. You literally keep making up arguments in your head so you can win an imaginary debate.

I wasn't even talking to you about Vitali originally, I was responding to Coljimar's claim he was a top 5 h2h based on a fight he lost and then you butted in to somehow make this a comparison between Foreman and vitali (way off topic). This is a legacy thread anyways, and unless you think beating Herbie Hide puts Vitali in the top 5, it would be an incredibly idiotic stance to take either way. You're all over the place.

 

If we assume the Vitali of 1999 was H2H close to the Vitali of subsequent years than a H2H top 5 ranking seems reasonable. Obviously he didn't accomplish much in the 1990s. A top 5 ranking doesn't require putting him ahead of Lewis or Holyfield.

Likewise Holyfield didn't do much at heavyweight in the 1980s but it seems reasonable to rate the 1989 Holyfield in the top 5 h2h for 80s heavyweights I should think.

 

Lewis was 38 and out of shape, Vitali was in his prime. He had worse defense than a washed up old man.

I didn't blame Morrison. NoNeck criticized Foreman for not stopping Morrison but that was obviously hard for a slow chunky old man to chase down a moving target.

 

No it isn't reasonable. You can't attribute the qualities of Vitali in 2004 to his 1999 self. That's like saying Ali in 78 was just as fast as his 64 self. Vitali got better after the Lewis loss. There are multiple 90's boxers I'd put above 99 vitali: Lewis, Holyfield, Mercer, Moorer, Tua, Bowe, etc.

There's nothing wrong with putting 89 Holyfield top 5 h2h in the 80's because he beat some of the good contenders from that era: Stewart, Dokes, Thomas, etc. All Vitali did in the 90's was beat Hide. Why are you desperately trying to defend a goofy take?

 

I rate Butterbean over McNeeley but it could be just because I put more emphasis on head-to-head.

 

Stewart was a journeyman Thomas was shot really his only good win was Dokes. That's more than Vitali did in the 90s but not by much.

Pre Lewis Vitali was the first to stop Larry Donald which nobody else managed.

 

Norton stayed competitive with Ali in two more fights, winning at least one of them according to most, and also gave Holmes life and death. Add victories over highly ranked Quarry and Young to that.

Schmeling was undisputed champion before he even had faced Louis and had a pretty good number of wins over top contenders apart from that, I think.

 

Good post. I've always rated Ken. And Max would merit any top 15 heavyweight list prior to the 1960s in my opinion.