Look at some of the men vitali missed out on fighting from 2000-2002 Mike Tyson Evander Holyfield John Ruiz David Tua Hasim Rahman Oleg Maskaev Ike Ibeaubuchi in 1999 Why didn't he fight any of these men? Instead he chose to take on Larry Donald, Vaughn Bean, Tino Hoffman, Obed Sullivan The only live contender he fought, Chris Byrd, beat him. I think Ibeubuchi would have trounced Vitali if they ever fought
Ask Klaus Peter Kohl (Universum). He's the one that chose those fights, not Vitali neccessarily. Look who he matched Wlad up against during that time also. Wlad was fighting Mercer and McCline, when repeatedly he said he wanted a fight with Lewis or Tyson. Chris Byrd got a win due to injury where he was WAY behind on the cards, he hardly "beat him".
Suzie, I like you in classic but you should know better. Ike didn't fight past early 99 because of his legal issues, and was facing much lesser comp than Vitali inbetween the Tua and Byrd fights. Oleg spent 2000-2002 getting knocked around like a ragdoll, he was a non-factor thought to be done until the Rahman rematch surprise. After the Byrd humilation, Vitali was steadily rising back up in the rankings at this time. The Donald fight was a WBA elimantor but Holyfield/Ruiz were wrapped up in their controversial Triology so he went after Lennox. http://www.eastsideboxing.com/boxing-news/VitaliKlitschko-vs-LarryDonald.php Rahman, Tua, and Tyson were never on the table but they would have made for interesting fights, not sure any of the parties involved would commit though when they were all scrambling to rebuild their reputations at this time and cashing in on fights against Lewis. Tyson was basically fighting the same level of comp at this time as Vitali.
Why would those fighters have offered Vitali a fight on a voluntary basis? Vitali then was what is typically labeled as a high risk/low reward opponent. He was only interesting as an opponent once he had a belt.
Lets not confuse Vitali with Wlad. Wlad's class was full of big young strong guys like Jefferson(heavily pushed HBO star), McCline(than coming off big wins over Briggs and 1 TKO over Grant), Shufford, Bostice, and he knocked them all out on his way up. There never were too many capable 6'6" + punchers anyway, Lewis, Wlad, Vitali and Bowe are about it.
Agreed. Don't forget Monte Barrett, who(at the time) was considered one of the best prospects out there when wlad dismantled him.
Rahman most certainly WAS on the table. He signed to fight Rahman three different times, but had to pull out with injuries each time.
Not circa 2000-2002. My only realistic complant with Vitali's opponent choice was his first defense against Danny Williams. I know he originally wanted Tyson but once he lost to Williams he should have just looked elsewhere in the top 10. Byrd had been the deserving number one heavyweight behind Lewis for several years up to that point and a rematch would have been good for Vitali's legacy.
