Would Vitali Klitschko be competitive in other eras?

[Dubblechin]

Is Vitali Klitschko dominating his opponents because they're no good, or because HE'S a bona fide top heavyweight?

How would he do in other eras, such as the 30s against Max Baer, the 40s against Louis, the 50s against Marciano and Patterson, and the 60s vs Liston and Ali? How would he fare against Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield etc...

He would have been very competitive for a while. But he would be retired by now if he fought in any other era. Whatever performance enhancing drugs he's taking to speed up recovery times has helped him greatly.

Remember, Vitali was often injured as an amateur. He missed the Olympics because he tested positive for steroids. He said he was using them to recover from injuries.

In his first career, before the three-plus-year layoff, Vitali was often injured. He was hurt against Chris Byrd. He cancelled the Rahman fight no less than six times. By his early 30s, he was a physical wreck. He had to retire because he couldn't even make it through a training camp anymore.

Now that he's middle-aged, he is apparently injury-free and performing at his best. We saw this in Major League Baseball with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Athletes don't reach their peak in their 40s without major help.

Especially not athletes like Vitali, who were riddled with injuries in their 20s and 30s. If you're a physical wreck in your 20s and 30s, you don't come back like he has WITHOUT MASSIVE HELP FROM A DRUG REGIMEN.

So, in answer to your question, yes, he'd be competitive against past fighters until his body gave out in his early 30s. But he has greatly benefited from whatever drugs he's taking (whether its Human Growth Hormone or new drugs that there are no tests for yet).

[Dubblechin]

He would be competitive in any era, but seriously...like 30 of those votes are from banned alts from 3 klitlickers

I voted no he wouldn't be competitive against the very best of all time because he is a quitter and has no heart...he has all the size and even a skill advantage on many of the all-time greats, but the guy was made to quit on his stool by a middleweight and he got his face half-ripped off by a past it Lewis.

Max Baer quit against Joe Louis and others. Baer's lack of heart is well documented. Baer said: "If anybody wants to see the execution of Max Baer, he's got to pay more than $25 for a ringside seat." Sonny Liston quit on his stool twice and apparently took a dive in the Ali rematch. Muhammad Ali tried to quit at least twice, when he was blinded against Liston and after the 14th against Frazier, and he did quit after the tenth round against Holmes. So, in that regard, Vitali is in good company. Many fans at the time were just as unforgiving toward Baer and Liston as they are toward Vitali today.

[jimmy1569]

He would have been very competitive for a while. But he would be retired by now if he fought in any other era. Whatever performance enhancing drugs he's taking to speed up recovery times has helped him greatly.

Remember, Vitali was often injured as an amateur. He missed the Olympics because he tested positive for steroids. He said he was using them to recover from injuries.

In his first career, before the three-plus-year layoff, Vitali was often injured. He was hurt against Chris Byrd. He cancelled the Rahman fight no less than six times. By his early 30s, he was a physical wreck. He had to retire because he couldn't even make it through a training camp anymore.

Now that he's middle-aged, he is apparently injury-free and performing at his best. We saw this in Major League Baseball with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Athletes don't reach their peak in their 40s without major help.

Especially not athletes like Vitali, who were riddled with injuries in their 20s and 30s. If you're a physical wreck in your 20s and 30s, you don't come back like he has WITHOUT MASSIVE HELP FROM A DRUG REGIMEN.

So, in answer to your question, yes, he'd be competitive against past fighters until his body gave out in his early 30s. But he has greatly benefited from whatever drugs he's taking (whether its Human Growth Hormone or new drugs that there are no tests for yet).

The speculative nature of this post is downright negligent. What happened to your body healing naturally while taking 4 yrs off from the sport? Has Vitali NOT tweaked his game & taken off power so he doesn;t put himself in position to be off balance.... look how he preserved himself against Byrd clone KeVIN jOHNSON when it became apparent he was just in there to make Vitali miss.. he threw punches at Kevin with less than 50 % of his power behind them... knowing FULL well he was going to miss much more than he landed... a lesson he learned the hard way against bYRD as he was throwing full out bombs vs Byrd to try to get him out of there as that's all he knew how to do. He's much more wiser now & more efficient.. rarely gets hit & doesn't any more than 3 minute stretches in any bout...


That's how he's remained injury free,, accusing him of popping because of an incidence before he turned pro is beyond pathetic. If HE needed to take steroids wouldn't he have done it after the Byrd fight & during the Rahman tgraining camp when he got injured 3 or 4 times,,,, would STEROIDS have taken 4 yrs to kick in BEFORE he made his comeback?
Mark Mgwire & Bonds BOTH WERE OBVIOUS cases & both blew up in physical stature while there numbers went through the roof... Vitali's beatdowns have been consistent since he's turned pro..


Big Mac was often injured just like Vitali & then never got injured again in St. Louis SO I CAN SEE the parallel there In terms of suddenly not being injured.. but taking 4 years off & healing all the injuries while having various surgeries to fix what ailed him is a whole other ballgame.. I SUGGEST you apologize to the forum for planting such hogwash that;s even more ludicrous than Mayweather accusing Pac who had similar transgressions to Bonds who all OF A SUDDEN just happened to increase his homers nearly 3 times over. & pac ALL of a sudden beating up bigger guys than him.

[JAB5239]

You're an effin' moron might as well be what your screen name is.. all you do is post garbage that you.. yourself don't believe.. you just want attention.. buzzz off son... you're bush league...

You're accusing someone else of wanting attention?

[turbotime]

I think Vitali could win rounds against a prime Ali. It's a certain distance fight the way I see it but in the end there can only be one winner which is Ali of course.

In another thread in the history section I posted that Vitali would lose to Ali, Louis and Dempsey as I recall.

Seeing both Dempsey and Vitali at work, VK would kick Dempsey's hindparts in a head to head fight.

[Dubblechin]

The speculative nature of this post is downright negligent. What happened to your body healing naturally while taking 4 yrs off from the sport? Has Vitali NOT tweaked his game & taken off power so he doesn;t put himself in position to be off balance.... look how he preserved himself against Byrd clone KeVIN jOHNSON when it became apparent he was just in there to make Vitali miss.. he threw punches at Kevin with less than 50 % of his power behind them... knowing FULL well he was going to miss much more than he landed... a lesson he learned the hard way against bYRD as he was throwing full out bombs vs Byrd to try to get him out of there as that's all he knew how to do. He's much more wiser now & more efficient.. rarely gets hit & doesn't any more than 3 minute stretches in any bout...


That's how he's remained injury free,, accusing him of popping because of an incidence before he turned pro is beyond pathetic. If HE needed to take steroids wouldn't he have done it after the Byrd fight & during the Rahman tgraining camp when he got injured 3 or 4 times,,,, would STEROIDS have taken 4 yrs to kick in BEFORE he made his comeback?
Mark Mgwire & Bonds BOTH WERE OBVIOUS cases & both blew up in physical stature while there numbers went through the roof... Vitali's beatdowns have been consistent since he's turned pro..


Big Mac was often injured just like Vitali & then never got injured again in St. Louis SO I CAN SEE the parallel there In terms of suddenly not being injured.. but taking 4 years off & healing all the injuries while having various surgeries to fix what ailed him is a whole other ballgame.. I SUGGEST you apologize to the forum for planting such hogwash that;s even more ludicrous than Mayweather accusing Pac who had similar transgressions to Bonds who all OF A SUDDEN just happened to increase his homers nearly 3 times over. & pac ALL of a sudden beating up bigger guys than him.

There are plenty of videos showing Vitali Klitschko training for fights since his comeback. He trains like a madman. I don't care if he only threw with 50 percent of his power against Kevin Johnson, he threw with plenty of power against everyone else and he lays it all on the line in training.

In his 30s, Vitali couldn't even get through a training camp anymore. His body had broken down after years of kickboxing, amateur boxing and pro boxing.

I agree, taking four years off from training could heal a broken body. But once you start the maniacal training again, the muscles, tendons, the brittle bones in your arms, legs, shoulders, etc. aren't suddenly reborn naturally.

I'm no Vitali hater. I'm just not naive. The guy took performance enhancers to try to make the Olympics when NO money was involved and there was a good chance he'd get caught (which he did). You don't think he'd take undetectable performance enhancers to get back in the game when tens of millions of dollars are on the line?

Vitali Klitschko would be thought of entirely differently if he never came back. He was never considered an all-timer when he called it quits after the Danny Williams fight. He beaten his best competition since he's come back. He's made his name during this comeback. And he's made a sizeable fortune as well.

And, the brittle, injury-prone fighter from years ago is nowhere to be found. You can appreciate the guy's accomplishments, but I don't for a single MINUTE think he did it without taking performance enhancers to speed up recovery times during his training camps.

Hell, there was a point in the middle of this decade when half the heavyweight top 10 (including Vitali, Holyfield, Toney, McCline and Briggs) had been caught buying or taking with performance enhacers at some point.

Performance enhancers are rampant in boxing. Why do you think the BALCO guy is working with guys like Berto? Because there's big money to be made and people rarely if ever get caught ... since the sport is so unregulated.

Even in the welterweight heyday with the foursome of Oscar, Felix Trinidad, Fernando Vargas and Shane Mosley, HALF of them (Vargas and Mosley) got caught using PEDs.

It's everywhere. And guys who have been caught using before are fair game. Vitali is one of them.

[Superflo777]

There are plenty of videos showing Vitali Klitschko training for fights since his comeback. He trains like a madman. I don't care if he only threw with 50 percent of his power against Kevin Johnson, he threw with plenty of power against everyone else and he lays it all on the line in training.

In his 30s, Vitali couldn't even get through a training camp anymore. His body had broken down after years of kickboxing, amateur boxing and pro boxing.

I agree, taking four years off from training could heal a broken body. But once you start the maniacal training again, the muscles, tendons, the brittle bones in your arms, legs, shoulders, etc. aren't suddenly reborn naturally.

I'm no Vitali hater. I'm just not naive. The guy took performance enhancers to try to make the Olympics when NO money was involved and there was a good chance he'd get caught (which he did). You don't think he'd take undetectable performance enhancers to get back in the game when tens of millions of dollars are on the line?

Vitali Klitschko would be thought of entirely differently if he never came back. He was never considered an all-timer when he called it quits after the Danny Williams fight. He beaten his best competition since he's come back. He's made his name during this comeback. And he's made a sizeable fortune as well.

And, the brittle, injury-prone fighter from years ago is nowhere to be found. You can appreciate the guy's accomplishments, but I don't for a single MINUTE think he did it without taking performance enhancers to speed up recovery times during his training camps.

Hell, there was a point in the middle of this decade when half the heavyweight top 10 (including Vitali, Holyfield, Toney, McCline and Briggs) had been caught buying or taking with performance enhacers at some point.

Performance enhancers are rampant in boxing. Why do you think the BALCO guy is working with guys like Berto? Because there's big money to be made and people rarely if ever get caught ... since the sport is so unregulated.

Even in the welterweight heyday with the foursome of Oscar, Felix Trinidad, Fernando Vargas and Shane Mosley, HALF of them (Vargas and Mosley) got caught using PEDs.

It's everywhere. And guys who have been caught using before are fair game. Vitali is one of them.

He didn't take performance enhancers to make it to the Olympics. He had an injured leg and was given a painkiller at the military hospital that contained a banned substance, he wasn't really aware of that. Nothing to do with performance that he couldn't make without.

Your post is nothing but assumption and the part where you list the many fighters that have been caught with substances is actually an argument for Vitali who has never been caught in his entire professional career.

[PlayerKiller]

Vitali has a solid chin, and mpre than enough power and strength to pose huge issues in any era.

He did very well VS an slipping Lewis. (Don't go by age but by his recent performances or activity)

Vitali now is not better than pre retirement one IMO. The only issue with Vit is his ability to not get cut or injured, and if he was in a very active era with much better quality guys, then injuries can happen.

[E-Thug]

Personal opinion, without reading any other replies, is yes, he would be absolutely competitive in every era. I think he'd be able to win his fair share of big fights but the one fight I don't see him winning is VS Muhammed Ali, and that's nothing to be ashamed of.

[STEELHEAD]

i be darned! after all these years tunney has taken me off ignore.
BWA HAHAHAHAH!

NO WAY OF TELLING FOR SURE OF COARSE. but in some of the other era's
they had boxers that knew how to fight on the inside so much better then the clowns in hvywt division now.
i am of the opinion that, like for instamce a prime mike tyson , someone who isnt afraid of being hit and could dance bobbing and weaving could handle the pedestrian boxing skills of the tall K bros.