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

[BIG H]

I don't!

[Tysonbruno]

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

[Andre]

Nope dont even think he had the right style to get lucky either.

[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.

[El Kabong]

Nope dont even think he had the right style to get lucky either.

I HIGHLY disagree with that....now while I agree a Prime MOTIVATED Lewis beats Vitali 8 or 9 out of 10 times (and the majority of those fights wouldn't end in KO or even a TKO due to cuts, they last the distance). A flat Lennox Lewis gets the lights put out on him 9 out of 10 times vs a prime Vitali....the Lewis that fought Bruno, Vitali would have destroyed him for various reasons.

In the Bruno fight:
#1 Lennox was flat footed
#2 Wide with his punches
#3 Waiting and reacting instead of pressing the fight like he normally does
#4 His timing was well off up until he finally caught Bruno whom (unlike Vitali) didn't know what to do when he was hurt.

And let's not over look the FACT that #1 Vitali had the power to hurt Lewis (and stop him if he landed and was able to avoid the clinch) #2 Once Vitali is in his awkward rhythm he's very hard to get to and if Lewis was flat then he wouldn't be able to pressure Vitali out of that rhythm.

Just my opinion

[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.

[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

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.

Based off the fact that Vitaly took the fight on two weeks notice, and lewis was already training...Lewis is lucky Vitaly didn't have longer to train..

[El Kabong]

Lewis shot his wad in that last round....Vitali normally takes 1 or 2 middle rounds off. I'm not arguing what happened in the fight, I'm just saying.

To think that Vitali had "no chance" you have to assume he didn't have the power or the luck of a Hasim Rahman or Oliver McCall....sorry I think Vitali had a far better shot of repeating a KO punch on Lewis than those other two guys.....it's just when Vitali fought Lennox he was unlucky, if he was luckier that cut over the eye never happens and perhaps the result of the fight changes too....but also perhaps it doesn't

[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