Vitali Performance Assessment

[The Hammer]

good performace but I would have been much happier if he would have finished Gomez in the 7th. The american public will never give the Klitschkos the credit they deserve cause they are not american and thats the bottom line, and a bull crap commentating job done by Atlas didint help either.

Atlas has always hated the Klitschkos, I don't understand why.

[The Hammer]

It'll be interesting to see what Vitali says himself.

Here are some points I thought contributed to the worse than normal performance:
1. Gomez is a southpaw and a good one at that. Southpaws are difficult to fight and even more difficult to look good against.
2. Gomez was clinching all throughout the fight, perhaps thinking that he's Ruiz reborn.
3. Vitali is not getting any younger, he has slowed down a bit but still keeps his accuracy and power.

On a personal note, ref was as dumb as they come. He deducted a point from Vitali, thinking that he'd help Gomez. Instead, he just pissed Vitali, who put Gomez away within seconds.

I was wondering if the ref was being paid by Ahmet Oner?

He let Gomez get away with a lot of holding and headbutting, then deducted a point from Vitali for nothing.

[The Hammer]

Well at 37 he is past his prime. So... He still won alomst every round and ended the fight by TKO.

I say A-.

Good post. I'd give him a A- too.

He has slowed down a bit, as we could expect for a fighter who turns 38 this year.

But he's still the world's best heavyweight.

[TheGreatA]

The fight went like I thought it would so I have no criticisms. Good performance all in all considering that Vitali is 37 years old and that Gomez was a game fighter even if outmatched.

Vitali vs Valuev would be fun to see even though the fight won't be competitive.

[elfag]

He looked good to me. He has gotten slower since his comeback but his reflexes and accuracy are still there.

Gomez made it an awkward fight, Vit lost the first round but won all the rest. Even in the opening rounds it was apparent Vitali was landing better shots and he was blocking some of Gomez's with his right forearm which looked weird but hey it worked.

He usually likes to stay on the outside and have his space but Gomez wanted to fight on the inside and actually got there so it was a lot different than Vitali's usual fights. However he was effective and landing the better shots early on and still pretty hard to hit, so overall it was a good performance especially considering his age.

It just showed that he can win even against an awkward style and out of his comfort zone. There isnt anyone in todays division that can beat him.

[Leo Pradun]

Atlas has always hated the Klitschkos, I don't understand why.

i remember when Sam Peter beat on some bum on fnf and Atlas was comparing him to Mike Tyson, Vitali demolished Peter.

[Nautilus]

i remember when Sam Peter beat on some bum on fnf and Atlas was comparing him to Mike Tyson, Vitali demolished Peter.

The same ****ing Atlas was commenting Vit's fight today... I had to turn off the sound because I did not want to listen to this *******...

[Ben_London.]

i remember when Sam Peter beat on some bum on fnf and Atlas was comparing him to Mike Tyson, Vitali demolished Peter.

Yes, Atlas used to talk about Sam Peter as if he was the next great heavyweight.

[Ben_London.]

The same ****ing Atlas was commenting Vit's fight today... I had to turn off the sound because I did not want to listen to this *******...

I watched the German-language livestream instead of the ESPN livestream, even though I don't understand German, after I heard Atlas bash Vitali in the pre-fight commentary.

[Leo Pradun]

the other dude brian kenny was giving klitschko a lot of credit alteast made the commentating better to listen to