Anybody think a Prime Vitali, would've beaten a Prime Lewis?

[ryanman]

Vitali was basically prime when he fought Lewis and Lewis werent yet he still beat him prime Lewis would have destroyed him.

Pretty much sums it up. Except I'd tone down 'destroyed' to 'wins handily'.

[rjj tszyu]

No way. Lennox is a true all time great, Vitali is not. He has fought nobody of any true greatness other than Lennox who at the time was quite a bit past his best and he still lost despite putting up a good performance. Vitali is probably the best around in this era but to be fair I think this is the worst era in history of HW's. Also I think he will be beaten by Haye and though Haye was good last night and showed he has class and a new maturity to his game, he too isn't of the Lennox class IMO.

Must admit though last night is one of the greatest nights of my life, Haye was great to watch and the crowd in the MEN were in great voice. I was directly across the ringwalk aisle from some of the chelsea players and was sat directly behind Blackburns Chris Samba (Bastard). Gotta do something I wasn't expecting to do and give Ruiz a lot of credit, it was the most entertaining fight i've ever seen him in and despite taking some real hard shots was not deterred by a man he was clearly not on the same level as. I'm going to watch the 7.00pm showing on Sky tonight to see what I missed in the excitement of the fight, and my judgement could change after that but as of now the class shown by Haye to me was another indicator that he is the only threat out there to the Klits and as one of the banners in the crowd said "Haye will lick the Klits" lol.

[LBSCFC]

NO. a prime Klitschko couldnt beat a past prime Lewis. Plus ones an all time great. Lewis in his prime would have won a lot easier. The division now is a far poorer division than it was 10 years ago. Lewis was dominant against far superior fighters than either of the Klitschkos are now. Absolutely no comparison.

[Beanflicker]

I think for you guys to talk like he has no chance is crazy. Look what Bruno and Mercer were able to do against a prime Lewis. Vitali has a good shot against any heavyweight who ever lived because of his style, skill and physical attributes. For people to say "No, because Lewis is an ATG and Vitali is not" is absolutely retarded IMO.

In a fight, it don't matter how you're regarded, who you fought, how good your division is, ect ect. Its what you bring to the table that night. Lewis brings a lot to the table, but so does Vitali.

IMO it could go either way.

[LBSCFC]

I think for you guys to talk like he has no chance is crazy. Look what Bruno and Mercer were able to do against a prime Lewis. Vitali has a good shot against any heavyweight who ever lived because of his style, skill and physical attributes. For people to say "No, because Lewis is an ATG and Vitali is not" is absolutely retarded IMO.

In a fight, it don't matter how you're regarded, who you fought, how good your division is, ect ect. Its what you bring to the table that night. Lewis brings a lot to the table, but so does Vitali.

IMO it could go either way.

the point is that Klitschko was approaching him prime when he fought Lewis in 2003 and Lewis was past his prime. A prime Lewis would have been much sharper and probably would have busted up Klitschko the same way or at least outboxed him

[JonesJrMayweather]

I think for you guys to talk like he has no chance is crazy. Look what Bruno and Mercer were able to do against a prime Lewis. Vitali has a good shot against any heavyweight who ever lived because of his style, skill and physical attributes. For people to say "No, because Lewis is an ATG and Vitali is not" is absolutely retarded IMO.

In a fight, it don't matter how you're regarded, who you fought, how good your division is, ect ect. Its what you bring to the table that night. Lewis brings a lot to the table, but so does Vitali.

IMO it could go either way.

the point is that Klitschko was approaching him prime when he fought Lewis in 2003 and Lewis was past his prime. A prime Lewis would have been much sharper and probably would have busted up Klitschko the same way or at least outboxed him

Lewis was in shape for another fight..Vitaly had two weeks to train for fight against the hw champ...very difficult to say how that fight would have looked had vitaly been allowed to train..he may have sparked lewis early

[Taeth]

Lennox being my favorite heavyweight ever would win more often than not, he is like a Klitschko sized David Haye with a better chin, but if anyone in the history of the heavyweight division IMO could beat Lennox at his best its Klitschko nobody else has the size, skill, and chin to compete with Lennox.

I also argue that it wasn't Lennox's best performance but clearly Klitschko made Lennox look a lot worse than he is/was. I think Klitschko had a very difficult style for Lennox who never liked fighting jabbers that much.

[JonesJrMayweather]

I think lewis is great, but I wouldn't ride off so quickly saying Vitali doesn't belong. Vitali is a beast IMO. Came at the wrong time. Prime v Prime Vitaly beats, Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Mercer, Moorer, Grant, Tua, Ruiz, Botha, Buster douglass, Seldon, Berbick, McCall, Rahman, Bruno, Bowe, HW Spinks... If you're a Tyson fan and can't admit that, then at least one can admit that Vitaly would beat every champion that LEWIS, TYSON, HOLYFIELD all got their belts from prime v prime. Which at least puts him at the dinner table. and Honestly I think between Tyson, holy, lewis and Vitaly. Tyson would be 0-4, Holyfield 1-3, and Lewis or Vitaly would either be 3-1 or 4-0 __________________

[El Kabong]

the point is that Klitschko was approaching him prime when he fought Lewis in 2003 and Lewis was past his prime. A prime Lewis would have been much sharper and probably would have busted up Klitschko the same way or at least outboxed him

....he also approached him on Lewis' farewell fight so you could see how Lennox perhaps took preparing for Kirk Johnson a bit more serious than he was given credit for.

It's a tricky fight to discuss for various reasons, it was a short notice fight for both fighters, there was a bad cut that was a freak accident, and that cut ended the fight and nothing else.

Sure there were more cuts but can we say for certain that if the big cut over the eye didn't happen that any of the other cuts would have happened?

[DaxxKahn]

the point is that Klitschko was approaching him prime when he fought Lewis in 2003 and Lewis was past his prime. A prime Lewis would have been much sharper and probably would have busted up Klitschko the same way or at least outboxed him

....he also approached him on Lewis' farewell fight so you could see how Lennox perhaps took preparing for Kirk Johnson a bit more serious than he was given credit for.

It's a tricky fight to discuss for various reasons, it was a short notice fight for both fighters, there was a bad cut that was a freak accident, and that cut ended the fight and nothing else.

Sure there were more cuts but can we say for certain that if the big cut over the eye didn't happen that any of the other cuts would have happened?

Not too mention neither man had ever faced another opp who was as physically strong as the other...Sure Lewis had met Akinwande and Grant but Akinwande was garbage and held for dear life and Grant was just destroyed with no chance what so ever to even land a shot....

So IMO it took both men by surprise how tough the inside fighting was...Lewis trained for a shot Johnson and trained poorly.....He was looking at a jab straight right KO by 6th fight not what was coming from a prime Vitaly

[rjj tszyu]

the point is that Klitschko was approaching him prime when he fought Lewis in 2003 and Lewis was past his prime. A prime Lewis would have been much sharper and probably would have busted up Klitschko the same way or at least outboxed him

....he also approached him on Lewis' farewell fight so you could see how Lennox perhaps took preparing for Kirk Johnson a bit more serious than he was given credit for.

It's a tricky fight to discuss for various reasons, it was a short notice fight for both fighters, there was a bad cut that was a freak accident, and that cut ended the fight and nothing else.

Sure there were more cuts but can we say for certain that if the big cut over the eye didn't happen that any of the other cuts would have happened?

Well no we can't say anything would have happened had another thing not, there are all kinds of reasoning for this such as Lewis seeing blood and then targeting Vitalis face more frequently and gaining more confidence which he may not have otherwise, but they are only ifs and maybes. All we can go on is what happened for sure and that was that Lewis cut Vitali quite badly and that won him the fight in a very even contest IMO. Had it gone on without the cuts happening I would have gone for Lewis to win on points eventually taking over, but then again Vitali must have been losing strength and energy with the blood he was losing from the facial wounds.

All in all though the thread was aimed at prime vs prime and IMO Lewis was a way past his prime whereas Vitali was pretty much peaking when they did fight so my conclusion has to be that a prime Lewis without any of the mistakes he could be prone to (see McCall I and Rahman I) would beat a prime Klitschko.

[DaxxKahn]

I think for you guys to talk like he has no chance is crazy. Look what Bruno and Mercer were able to do against a prime Lewis. Vitali has a good shot against any heavyweight who ever lived because of his style, skill and physical attributes. For people to say "No, because Lewis is an ATG and Vitali is not" is absolutely retarded IMO.

In a fight, it don't matter how you're regarded, who you fought, how good your division is, ect ect. Its what you bring to the table that night. Lewis brings a lot to the table, but so does Vitali.

IMO it could go either way.

Lewis had yet to reach his prime when he fought Bruno...Or Mercer...Mercer in 1996 was hell for anyone ever..His chin was granite and he never stopped coming forward.....

Lewis prime started around the Golota fight IMO even after

[JonesJrMayweather]

Its not fair to say that he lost to fading lewis because Vitli was ahead on all scorecards and lewis was getting tired. It's also misleading because lewis caught Vitli with the corner of his glove and opened a cut, the worst cut I've ever seen or least clearly the worst one I can remember. That's why he won the fight, he was being out fought though. Then I guess the arguments come that well he opened the cut and stopped his man..but whatever Lewis was losing the fight and was going to lose..

I think lewis is great, but I wouldn't ride off so quickly saying Vitali doesn't belong. Vitali is a beast IMO. Came at the wrong time.

Prime v Prime Vitaly beats, Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Mercer, Moorer, Grant, Tua, Ruiz, Botha, Buster douglass, Seldon, Berbick, McCall, Rahman, Bruno, Bowe, HW Spinks...

If you're a Tyson fan and can't admit that, then at least one can admit that Vitaly would beat every champion that LEWIS, TYSON, HOLYFIELD all got their belts from prime v prime. Which at least puts him at the dinner table. and Honestly I think between Tyson, holy, lewis and Vitaly. Tyson would be 0-4, Holyfield 1-3, and Lewis or Vitaly would either be 3-1 or 4-0

[IronDanLaw]

Prime Lewis beats Prime Vitali 10 times out of 10.

Prime Vitali lost to a past it Lewis.

[ninjaspy3]

Its not fair to say that he lost to fading lewis because Vitli was ahead on all scorecards and lewis was getting tired. It's also misleading because lewis caught Vitli with the corner of his glove and opened a cut, the worst cut I've ever seen or least clearly the worst one I can remember. That's why he won the fight, he was being out fought though. Then I guess the arguments come that well he opened the cut and stopped his man..but whatever Lewis was losing the fight and was going to lose..

I think lewis is great, but I wouldn't ride off so quickly saying Vitali doesn't belong. Vitali is a beast IMO. Came at the wrong time.

Prime v Prime Vitaly beats, Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Mercer, Moorer, Grant, Tua, Ruiz, Botha, Buster douglass, Seldon, Berbick, McCall, Rahman, Bruno, Bowe, HW Spinks...

If you're a Tyson fan and can't admit that, then at least one can admit that Vitaly would beat every champion that LEWIS, TYSON, HOLYFIELD all got their belts from prime v prime. Which at least puts him at the dinner table. and Honestly I think between Tyson, holy, lewis and Vitaly. Tyson would be 0-4, Holyfield 1-3, and Lewis or Vitaly would either be 3-1 or 4-0

After re-watching the fight for... oh I dont even know how many times, I dont understand how Vitali was so far ahead on the score cards. Sure the first 2 rounds were his, but things really started to even up after that. -And they were -both- tired.