Vitali is clearly the greater fighter but Frazier's physical advantages in speed and elusiveness would cause him trouble. Even so, Vitali by late TKO
I could see the odds being wide for a Frazier stoppage. I might take that bet, actually. Not saying I'd favour that outcome, but I bet the odds wouldn't reflect how likely that could be.
Vitali would win...Frazier's too short and small in this matchup. Vitali's awkward style and range would keep Frazier at bay and joe will catch quite a few bombs along teh way which may eventually take it's toll on him.
I can see Frazier getting inside more easily than against Foreman, or at least at much lesser cost, since Vitali is just nowhere near as physically strong. Orlin Norris was probably shorter than Joe and when I watch their fight I don't have many problems envisioning Joe managing to get his licks in. Would be competitive, for my money. Joe really is leagues above anyone Vitali has ever bested despite his size & that matters. On a slightly tangential note - in a MM like this it seems fair to even the playing field training wise. In which case you're either talking about a solid 225lb Joe Frazier or a much frailer 225lb Vitali Klitschko, since either both or neither should have access to modern weight training knowledge, and a 20lb rather than 40lb weight differential. That being the case I might well pick Frazier by KO. (Although as a product of this time, Frazier is more likely a 245lb tub of useless fucking goo who quits after 8 rounds due to all the estrogen in his system):shit:
:giggle: You can't just add more hypotheticals to an already hypothetical matchup. So what... suddenly Joe Louis would weight 230lbs if he fought Lennox Lewis?
Realistically, give Louis 12 months to prepare for such a match with modern knowledge and he's easily a hard 225lb with no loss of speed and increased power. He's most likely a naturally bigger man than Haye. But i agree, adding another layer of imagining on such a match up is a bad idea....almost as bad as p4p match ups. Just sayin' though. As I said in that 'real heavyweight sizes' thread I made a few months ago - the Klits are NOT as big as Lewis and Bowe in frame size they're just the first boxers along with Haye to take advantage of PROPER athletic weight training techniques (to their huge credit).