Would Vassiliy Jirov dominate light heavyweight if he were around today

They`s all beat him except maybe Benavidez, need to see him for a title at 175 before we can judge him at the higher weight.

 

He'd definitely be a player in the division.

 

Not with that face first defense. Beterbiev would beat the crap out of him and Bivol would school him.

Jirov was an exciting fighter but not on the same level as those two.

 

Gold medalist don`t mean much and the cruiser division was crap during that period.

 

Lol, what? Winning gold especially in those days meant a lot. You have to win five fights in a short period of time against the best in the world. By the way, he beat Antonio Tarver and Julio Gonzalez to win gold. Tarver was obviously a beast that Roy Jones twice, Montell Griffin, Harding, Reggie Johnson and Glen Johnson in the pro's. Gonzalez was the first man to beat Dariusz Michalczewski in Germany which was no easy task.

Regarding the question by the OP, it's tough to rate him as a light heavy in the pro's since he didn't figjt there but I do know someone that trained with Jirov in Arizona and they said that Jirov was scary powerful. He had a rep for being a brutal body puncher and to say CW was crap back then is just stupid considering he went life and death with an ATG like James Toney. Jirov was no joke, just ask Joe Mesi who had his career ended by him and recent HOF inductee Michael Moorer said in interviews that Jirov badly hurt him in that fight. Moorer never beat a ranked opponent again after that brutal fight with Moorer. Jiwas a badass that would be a serious threat to anyone at CW and if he could make 175, he would be scary as ****.

 

Toney was not a ATG at cruiser, and winng olympic matches means little because they are only 3 rounders, Tarver was not the beast that beat Jones, you improve as a pro.

 

Who did beat that was like Bivol or Beterbiev?

 

Tarver struggled with an old Stallone.

 

Beterbiev and Bivol would be his only competition that I think could beat him right now. Him vs Beterbiev would be brutal.

He's stopping Yarde, Hart, Benavidez, Smith etc.

 

I guess math is tough for you. 5x3 is 15. Five fights at three rounds against five very different opponents/styles is not easy. That's 15 very difficult rounds that you really can't pull off unless you are a complete fighter and Tarver was a part of the USA boxing system back when that meant something. He was a highly seasoned fighter at that point with numerous international medals.

Perhaps you should find another sport to discuss since you don't know jack **** about this one.

 

No, amateurs aren`t seasoned, Tarver grew as a pro and peaked as champ like most fighters, three rounders don`t prove much, the amateurs is just a place to get started on your fundamentals which become smoother when a fighter gets experience in the pros.

 

I got a G for maths I`ll have you know!