What's the problem with Vitali?

[Marjoh]

I agree, you can't label someone a hater just because they think Vitali hasn't proven himself as the real deal. Because the fact is he still hasn't show it. I myself think he could beat the other top heavy, but he needs to do it first.

[leff]

He is not only white but he is east-european, seems like a lot people (americans especially) dislike it.

[jswa17]

and his two losses...he didn't lose them cuz he got BEAT...but rather cuz of his injuries...i see a very good fighter in Vitali...but I still think he's too awkward to watch..haha

[tikal]

I think Vitali is the best HW boxer right now. He is a good boxer but I dont he'll ever be in the same league as the alltime greats such as Frazier, Liston or Louis.

[dansweeney]

the problem is he is twice the size of everyone else, people like underdogs, guys that overcome adversity to succeed, how can the average guy identify with someone who is 6'8? that is why im not a fan, he wins because of sheer size advantage, not because he is better pound for pound

[K-Yo]

I think it will be a while until somebody beats him

[tri4ben2]

What people don't realize is that there are a lot of athletes that suceed because they have a natural ability. VK's natural ability is that he is tall, but he does many other things effectively to build off that.

I don't know of any Vick (American Football) haters that say that he is an ordinary quarterback that happens to be one of the fastest men in the NFL, and that the only reason that he can win games is because he is so fast.

There have been other fighters that have been tall, I think there may be a middle or a super middle that is 6'4. Kenese Ikeke I think??

But VK has something else and to categorize all of his success as being directly attributible to height shows a poor understanding of what it takes to fight at the level these guys fight at.

Last thing, you say VK has never been down, and never been behind, but I would argue that he may never have lost a round. The two fights he may have lost a round, Byrd and LL, the rounds were close, but they were not clearly against VK, although I think that he legitimately lost them.

[!!Captain]

Please tell me the fighters the robot has beaten. He's lost every times he's been in with respectable competition.

As long as he beats up fat men, and has-beens, he'll be regarded as **** to most.

Who does he have to beat so is not regarded as ****? Let's see, Byrd and Ruiz are out of the question, King will not let those fights happen. Toney will never fight VK. The only other choice is Golota, I can see DK staging a unification fight between "two eastern european giants, products of post-soviet school of athletes, blah, blah, blah" That is, if Golota wins (which I think he will. And even if that fights happens and VK wins, everyone will say that he beat another old man. The problem is there is no respectible competition in the division right now but it doesn't make VK a lesser boxer.

Another thing is people calling him robotic. How about methodic? That's how I see his fights. He picks them apart carefully, executing his game plan like a chess game. It doesn't mean he is robotic. Tell that to Lewis, I am sure he'll tell you how robot's punches nearly killed him. Say what you will but this is the closest Lewis ever been to the KD/KO aside from those cases when he did get KD/KO.

[LittleBigMan]

he doesn't avenge his losses

[justin04]

the newbie says:

i always think that it's funny when people say that elite atheletes aren't any good. anyone who gets even into the top 100 of the heavyweight division has to be a phenomenal athelete...

i don't know as much about boxing as some of the people on here, but vitali k has power and he can take a punch, and he has great boxing skills - but his endurance is questionable. anyone notice how tired he gets in the later rounds of his fights? it didn't stop him from beating up danny williams, but i wonder what would have happened in the lennox lewis fight if it had kept on going, and if lewis had really come there ready to fight. also i bet that a small, fast tyson-type who could get close in with vitali without getting clobbered first could mess him up bad - big guys are always susceptable to that...

overall i'd say that klitschko is an elite fighter, and i won't be surprised if he beats rahman and ruiz and ends up dominating the heavyweight division for a couple of years.