Vitali's best fights are losses - this is the recognized champ?

[psychopath]

I don't disagree that he doesn't deserve to be a champion. He won the vacant WBC title bout to win the belt.

What I wonder is, why do 80 some percent perceive him to be the true heavyweight champion, as the HBO poll showed? I think he's got The Ring belt, too. Byrd's resume is better and includes a win over Vitali. Ruiz lost to a light heavy, but his overall competition is better than V. Klitschko's as well.

So okay got your point. AS to the HBO polls, I guess that can be attributed more on him being more exposed and to the boxing public.

[Nautilus]

I don't disagree that he doesn't deserve to be a champion. He won the vacant WBC title bout to win the belt.

What I wonder is, why do 80 some percent perceive him to be the true heavyweight champion, as the HBO poll showed? I think he's got The Ring belt, too. Byrd's resume is better and includes a win over Vitali. Ruiz lost to a light heavy, but his overall competition is better than V. Klitschko's as well.

Paper losses or wins do not mean ... much to the public. The public decides who won or lost a fight. The public often disagrees with judges, and often rightfully so.

Many people have expressed the view that Byrd essentially (a) lost to Oquendo, a B level fighter, (b) lost to Golota, a shot and rusty fighter, (c) lost to Wlad Klichko, who many people here call a shot bum (unfortunately), and (d) lost to Vitali. On paper, he won (a), (b), (d), but 80% of people polled by HBO apparently think otherwise.

The same can be said for the wrestling wins of Ruiz. Not many people appreciate those. Plus Ruiz was beaten by some old guy later knocked out by Glenn Jonson.

Lastly, Vitali's competition was as good as it gets: Lewis, Byrd, Sanders, Donald, Johnson, not too bad, right? ... And what ultimately matters is what the public thinks about Vitali's performance in those fights, not what the paper says.

[phallus]

In the big K - Lewis fight, Vitali looked really good against Lennox, he was really taking it to him, and i think in that fight he won the people's respect - i'm not a big VK fan, but he's got my respect for beating Lewis in the first half of that fight. We all know Lennox is a slow starter, it always takes him a few rounds to get warmed up, and, at the time Vitali was cut it really looked like Lennox was tired of eating punches and was starting to wake up, so we'll never know what would have happened if there had been no cut. any way you slice it, Lennox was in for a tough night, even if he turned things around and started dominating.