Is it Vitali's intimidation factor?

We have learned by now that Vitali is much better than he looks like. His style, standing straight up and keeping his hands down, makes him look like a near-novice but as pointed out elsewhere, he hardly has lost less than ten rounds in almost 40 fights so fighting him must be more difficult than it seems.

Vitali's reach and style of course is one thing but I am starting to wonder if Kirk Johnson, Sam Peter, Larry Donald etc were actually too scared to put up a meaningful fight against him. They all have had good performances against solid heavies but none of them could do a thing against Klit. Vitali is an enormous guy and has huge strength (even though he doesn't commit to his punches) and he has mean attitude. Is it possible that it is his presence that takes the fight out of his opponents? Lewis obviously was not afraid of him and managed to come out on top

 

I don't believe it's intimidation. I believe it's frustration. The same thing happened to Tua when he faced Lewis. They aren't afraid, but they have self doubts as the rounds go on and they see they can overcome the size difference.

Cupey

 

I agree with Cupey but would like to add that Vitaly's power probably hastens the "quitting".

 

Vitali is a very good talent. He's amateurish as you said, but he's actually one of the better heavyweights of all time in terms of his ability to win.

His chin is SOLID. He has very heavy hands, good stamina, god reach and doesn't get hit that much.

I think he would have beaten Lennox Lewis if it wasn't for the cut eye.

I do think that his style is intimidating..as well as his height.

 

::

 

It's amazing how much Wlad's opposition gets questioned, but not Vitali's.

Wlad's 5 years younger and has had something like 16 more fights.

The sample size with which to judge him is far greater.

Vitali's proven he can beat fighters he should - something Wlad hasn't always done - but he hasn't beaten a lot of fighters than many other previous champions would've been expected to do anything less with.

There are not a lot of world beaters on his resume (not that there are on Wlad's).

There are a couple Wlad-beaters, though. Maybe that's enough, though really, it seems like Vitali's actually riding his brothers coattails in that regard...Vitali's considered better than his brother, therefore anybody his brother beats, Vitali would obviously beat.

Not sure I completely agree with that logic.

We'll see what happens if Vitali sticks around a while. I don't think Valuev or Gomez are easy nights for him. Granted he's not in his prime anymore, but still, it could change how he's viewed by some if he does.

 

Totally agREED...

There's ALOT of this Going On N the Thread REED Started...

& Apparently, Corrie Sanders is the BE All to END All...Since he Beat Wlad & Lost to Vitali, that AUTOMATICALLY Makes Vitali BETTER than Wlad...

& Since Sanders KO'ed Wlad N 2, that AUTOMATICALLY Means Wlad had NO Chance Whatsoever N Beating Lennox Lewis...


REED:boohoo:

 

Wlad had no chance whatsoever against Lewis.

 

If he Faced the SAME Version of Lennox that Vitali Did, Wlad DEFINITELY Had a CHANCE...


REED:hammert:

 

I love how Wladimir is considered a finished product at 32. His career already encapsulated.

Yet at the same age, and with far fewer fights, Lennox wasn't close to really securing his legacy.

 

The jabbing match alone would've been something to watch.

 

dsimon writes;

Well said brother Mitchell well said. One caveate being Valuev. I think he would get eaten alive by Vitali. Basically becasue he just does not hit hard enough.

 

dsimon writes:

Probably not. Lewis was really very good and he really did fight all comers.

I am probably a minority in this opinion but the fact that Lewis prepared for KirK douglas and did not prepare Ipso facto :: and managed to hang in there with Vitali was pretty amazing. The fact is Lewis probably should have stopped, admitted his error and asked for a rematch. That fight hurt him and he managed to win it despite a dreadful mistake on his part. To this day I will never understand why he underestimated Vitali like he did and why his camp let him.

 

Because Vitali looked like crap leading up to the Lewis fight with his rep in tatters. Come on dsimon, nobody on this board had any respect for Vitali in 2003. Lewis thought the same thing, he thought Vitali probably would just quit like he did in the Byrd fight.
That Lewis fight proved Vitali was for real.

 

I don't think most people had seen much of him since the Byrd fight.

This was sorta going to be his re-introduction against Cedric Boswell (I believe that's who it was scheduled to be)...then perhaps a mandatory fight against Lennox.

 

I agree - Lennox was ill-prepared for Vitali in that he was training for a shorter, smaller fighter Kirk Johnson... he wasn't training to BE the smaller, shorter fighter. Vitali's preparation, while not for Lennox, was still going to be relatively similar.. vitali was still the taller bigger man no matter who his opponent was going to be that night

 

Mitchell Kane, dominating on this thread. Good work, man. :bears:

 

I just wonder how many people know where he got his name from:crying:

 

The way he was hammered by Sanders leads me to believe that if he had any chance to beat Lewis, he DAMNED sure better land first.

First good lick from Lewis would crumble Wlad imo.

 

I thought that flick was a good boxing satire.

 

:hammert::hammert::hammert:

Yep. It was great.

 

If Wlad had his brother's demeaner and chin....he would probably be impossible to beat.

 

Agreed. Good post.

 

Maybe nobody on this board back then, but that sure isn't true counting present-day posters. I considered him the 2nd best heavy behind Lennox since he beat Herbie.

 

I remember I used to laugh when people made him out to be a Peter Mcneeley type of fighter. He is too big and skilled to be a bum. However, I was shocked that he stood up to Lennox Lewis.I admit seeing him quit against Byrd had me question his heart though.

 

Yeah, the fact is, I doubt most Americans had seen much of anything from Vitali Klitschko other than the Byrd fight before he fought Lewis.

My recollection may be wrong, but I think his primary exposure in the States was the Hide fight (shown in highlights on HBO), the Sullivan fight (shown on Showtime), and the Byrd fight (on HBO).

I'm not sure there was much else of his careeer shown in the US before the Lewis fight.

The Byrd fight became the narrative of his career, and Vitali became a quitter.

Actually, both Klitschko's became regarded - by some - as quitters.

 

I had not seen Vitaly in a full fight yet, it was his "debut". I was surprised Lewis took the fight.

 

I think Lewis thought the same way as pretty much all fans: Vitali holds his hands low so he will be easy to hit, and since Wlad can't take a punch, then neither can Vitali. So Lennox came to the ring thinking he would collect Klitschko with one right cross

 

He was partially right in the end.

What sucks is that was the last great heavyweight fight I've seen (Wlad vs Peter was good) and that was nearly 6 years ago.

 

dsimon writes:

What you used to hear from Lewis all the time after his fights was how he had specifically trained for an opponent. When he would have the occasional bad outing for example, he would often say he did not prepare properly for so and so.

With this in mind, and with Lewis' chess thinking mentality it just seemed out of character for him.

Your specific comments about the training non withstanding (true as they are) the kicker was that Lewis obviously did not do much training at all! Probably correctly assuming that Kirk Douglas was about at tough a fight as taking candy from a big baby!