Quote Originally Posted by bilbo
Quote Originally Posted by right_cross
If I never had seen Vitaly fight, after reading this thread, I'd think he had the technical skills of Holmes, and the punch of Shavers.

Vitaly never impressed me. His claim to fame was a gutsy performance against an aging out of shape Lewis. A fight he lost. His following fights were against nothing formidable.

It may make the division more interesting, but his brother would beat him like a drum. Its also a fight we'll never see.

I agree completely. He's a modern day Henry Cooper whose claim to fame is a gutsy loss to a great heavyweight, who wasn't properly prepared and was in the twilight of his career.

He is nothing like Henry Cooper.The guys he fought were so much tougher than the guys Cooper fought.Vitali went 195-15 with 80 ko's in the amateurs and 35-2 with 34 ko's in the pro's.Cooper went 40-14 with 27 ko's against complete nobodies.Cooper wasn't even competative in his fight with Ali, Ali toyed with him, at no point was Lewis toying with Vitali, it was a back and forth fight with Vitali winning the majority of the rounds.To say Lewis wasn't prepared is a cop out.