Who would you pick to chop down Vitali

Neither was Holmes. Ali and Holmes do not belong in this thread at all.

It's really hard to imagine someone stopping Vitali on body shots given that he was not only always in shape, but was very strong physically and could tie you up even if he did suck on the inside with his long arms and awkwardness.

Hmmm...

Frazier

Frazier could possibly do it depending on the ref. If the ref allows excessive clinching it could end up being a repeat of Ali vs Frazier 2 or Wladmir vs Povetkin. Frazier would obviously lose if that was the case. However, if the ref deduct points for too much clinching then Vitali's chances of outboxing Frazier would decrease significantly and his mid section would look like raw hamburger.

Vitali would likely need to stop Frazier which is certainly possible given his respectable power, but without a powerful uppercut this may not sound as easy in theory. Frazier's Bob and weave with a cross arm block would neutralize a lot of Vitali's basic long 1-2 punching style. Over 12 prime Frazier has at least a 35-40% chance of stopping Vitali with a fair ref.


Bowe:

As others mentioned, one of the few big men who could tear it up on the inside. He had the chin size and strength to make Vitali very uncomfortable and in his face all night. Bowe wouldn't need to worry about the ref as he is big enough to simply bulldoze his way inside of necessary. I give him at least a 40-45% chance.


Holyfield:

A real swiss army knife fighter, Holyfield was 100% confident he could beat Vitali when interviewed. He has jabs, hooks, uppers, and of course body shots. He was also great at using head movement while up against an opponent's chest like Roberto Duran. Holyfield could create angles and change levels for beautiful yet brutal combinations. Evander has the right combination of ring IQ, work rate, toughness, and speed to break down Vitali late, but his lack of raw power and shorter height means that this is far from the most likely scenario. I give him about a 15-20% chance of stopping Vitali with body work.


Jack Johnson:

While Johnson lacks the durability and size to brawl with Vitali, he has the cageyness to really annoy him on the inside. Johnson's grappling ability and defensive skills are amongst the best at heavyweight. He also had superb stamina and underrated physical strength. I don't think this is as straightforward as people think. Unlike Frazier, Johnson would likely be overjoyed getting into a clinch constantly since this is one of the best realms where he operated. Vitali would be utterly clueless--especially if they fight with smaller gloves and/or the fight is scheduled for 15 or more. Vitali would have to reset and stick to the outside to take advantage of his height and reach to harass Johnson; otherwise he is going to be gasping for air and unable to land anything significant. I still favor Vitali to win more often than not, but Johnson deserves to be mentioned as a guy who could potentially pull this off perhaps 5-10% of the time.


Jess Willard:

Jess is actually around the same height and weight as Vitali and had equal raw physical strength. The difference was Willard was a tremendous body puncher and had far better stamina. Vitali was tougher and had better fundamentals/technique from the modern era.

This Would be a very interesting clash of giants. Unless Vitali manages to knock him out, this would be a rough night for the big Ukrainian. Willard isn't in Vitali's class h2h or in resume, but the similar size and major clash of styles gives him an interesting edge. Willard could possibly pull this off 10-15% of the time.


Sonny Liston:

Another intriguing match up. Unlike many sluggers, Liston had good solid underrated skills and the stamina to go the distance. He is in the top 3 most well rounded power punchers after Joe Louis and Mike Tyson. Liston also boasted an absurdly long reach at 84' (some say it is more likely 80' but that's still longer than Vitali and ridiculous for a guy whose 6'1) with huge cannonball like fists at 15'. He was surprisingly good at fighting at both mid range for long straight punches or getting leverage at close range for powerful combinations. Liston had an awesome punch selection that included bludgeoning hooks to the body as well as a clipping uppercut. He was also an excellent finisher who broke guys down with frightening instinct and ruthlessness. Contrary to popular belief, a prime Sonny Liston had a granite chin and the determination to keep fighting despite being injured (a broken jaw in one fight, broken nose in another).

Vitali had never really encountered someone of a similar size and style. The closest in his era would have been Rahman, Ibeabuchi, or Mercer but he never fought them. Actually, Vitali didn't face many sluggers or boxer punchers in his career aside from a wheezing old Shannon Briggs and a fat 1 dimensional brainless Samuel Peter. If Liston's game plan from the beginning is to kill the body to slow down the big man he's one of the few who could do it. His only weaknesses were his slow feet and inability to cut off the ring. I give Liston a 20-25% chance of pulling it off.


Mike Tyson:

He has more than enough speed, power, timing, and accuracy to potentially stop almost anyone with a consistent body attack. No one could change angles, shift weight, and then pounce like a jungle cat quite like Tyson. The problem Tyson faces is that he was extremely easy to tie up for a guy with such a fierce reputation. Not only that, but unlike most short come forwars guys Tyson would constantly need to reset with his peak a boo style once he did get inside and this killed his own momentum even if the other guy didn't tie him up.

Because of these holes in his game plan, his neglecting of his otherwise awesome jab to get inside and his short stature, it's hard for me to envision Tyson stopping a guy as big and as durable as Vitali unless he manages to nail him with a liver or kidney shot early. Tyson also doesn't have the stamina of someone like FOTC Frazier or the inside skills to really pressure Vitali all night. Still, he had very explosive power and was by all accounts a tremendous body puncher. I give Tyson at least a 25-30% chance.


George Foreman:

One of the most brutal punchers in history, Foreman brought a sheer physicality that was more like a football player or wrestler than ant traditional boxing "style". Lots of roughouse tactics shoving, pulling, and the occasional foul to really make someone uncomfortable. It looks chaotic at first glance but there's a method to the madness. He had slow hands and feet but was very accurate and very heavy handed.

Foreman's main weaknesses were that he was a little TOO physical at times and could be outsmarted or outboxed. He had leaky defense and suspect stamina. The prime version would be giving up at least 15-20 lbs and is a couple inches shorter so he wouldn't be able to simply overpower Vitali. However, the shots He used to throw when he was younger hurt just to look at and he always aimed for vital spots. Vitali would be facing am opponent who was not only really out to hurt him, but had the skill and power to do it. If George paced himself well and didn't get greedy trying to force a stoppage, he might be able to bring Vitali down. I give him around a 30-35% chance.

Old George was unbelievably slow and had cement in his shoes but had better endurance, patience, and technique. He had the same brutal hooks and uppercuts as his younger self but didn't go downstairs as much--preferring to use his long polarizing jab on the outside to set up bombs. He would only have may be a 15% chance of stopping Vitali because of his big change of tactics and slower pace at his old age.

 

This. Vitali was excellent against big stationary targets like Sam Peter or Arreola, but wasn't that great against clever fighters. Byrd was tagging Vitali's chest at will and it showed in the later rounds, since Vitali was having a hard time keeping his hands up and was sucking wind. Also, he was a sitting duck for Lennox's uppercuts.

I'll never understand people saying he was ahead on the cards like it means something, since a loss is a loss. If the ref didn't stop Vitali's fight against Lennox in another round Vitali would've been on his back and Vitali wanted out of the Byrd fight, since Byrd figured Vitali out. If Byrd winning was only about Vitali being injured Vitali would've had an immediate rematch with Byrd once he made a recovery, but instead he fought Timo Hoffman, who was a much easier style to fight against.

 

Good post with interesting points. But to my eyes Lewis was losing that fight, and might have even ended up stopped.

No offense or disrespect meant.

 

Lennox, fury, Byrd, in shape sanders,

 

In which fight was Fury a prolific body puncher?

 

Could Ike Ibeaubuchi do it? I think he'd have a chance.

Tua? No. Tua lacks speed and i think Vitali is smart enough to keep him away. However, if Vitali decides to fight on the inside with Tua, he could get hurt.

 

Off the top of my head his last fight wilder 2, he dropped him with a body shot and continually looked to the body. Could find more examples if I wanted.

 

I don't think Fury would trade with Vitali or attempt to land too many hits to the body. Fury knows Vitali is more skilled than Wilder and has a much better beard.

IMO Fury would try to box Vitali as he did his brother.

 

I think the big difference here is that Wlad was well past his prime, here we're considering prime Vitali. Fury would get stopped imo...just as prime Wlad would have stopped him. Lewis would have knocked him out.

 

Vitalis movement was good, I reckon fury could use his reach to slow vitali down. Both men were/are slippery so can see both looking for the body

 

Would’ve , could’ve. All we know is fury beat wlad. And by your own logic past prime fat Lennox beat prime vitali.

 

Yeah stopping the 1 trick pony leaky defense lanky framed Wilder is not enough to convince me he'd be able to stop a chiseled pillar like Vitali.

In fact that's Fury's ONLY world level opponent that he managed to stop.

 

It’s boxing not a knockout contest. Fury easily has the tools to get to vitalis body, slow vitali down then fury’s going to land more.