Can Anyone Beat Vitali Klitschko?
September 27th, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: After watching World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko put on a masterful display last night in defeating his number #1 challenger Chris Arreola in a 10th round stoppage, I have to wonder if there’s any fighter out there, besides his brother IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who can beat Vitali? Klitschko may be getting up there in age at 38, but the way he looked last night, he might as well be 28 because he looked like he was out of this world in terms of talent.
Haye did the wise thing by fleeing from his fights against both brothers rather than take them and get exposed. However, Haye has the basic ingredients – speed and power – that are needed to beat Vitali Klitschko. The problem with Haye, though, is that his chin is like glass and he seems to have a problem stepping it up against the Klitschko brothers.
I seriously doubt he will ever fight either of them, but I do think he’ll continue to talk in the media to make it appear that he wants to fight them. It’s called name dropping and it works as an attention getter, if nothing else.
Below, I’ve listed the heavyweights that I consider to be the top fighters in the division and I’ve given my thoughts on how they might do against Vitali.
David Haye – As I said, I can’t see Haye ever fighting Klitschko. Haye knows that he’s better off looking for the easier marks in the heavyweight division like WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev and Monte Barrett, and he’s probably going to be content to stay along those lines when facing future heavyweight opponents.
If Haye does beat Valuev on November 7th to win the WBA title, there will be a lot of pressure on Haye to fight one of the Klitschko brothers. If Haye is basically shamed into taking a fight against one of them, then I see Haye getting flattened in a round or two. He won’t fight Vitali, let’s be clear on that right now. He knows he would stand no chance against him because of Vitali’s tough chin. So what we’ll have is Wladimir vs. Haye. Basically, this is the same result as Vitali vs. Haye, only that the fight will six or seven rounds because Wladimir won’t want to mix it up with Haye like Vitali would.
Kevin Johnson – This is another mismatch even worse than the Arreola fight. Johnson has no power and can’t crack eggs with his punches. His best weapon is his jab and his work rate is poor. He looks slightly overweight at 6’3″ 246, and from what I’ve seen of him, he appears to be slowing down as a fighter. Armed with only jabs in his arsenal, Johnson will be pummeled by Vitali, toyed with for eight or nine rounds until dropped and taken out. This would be a really boring fight to watch and I’m hoping Vitali doesn’t choose to fight him next.
Odlanier Solis – a good fighter as an amateur but a pro, he seems to lack discipline and has gotten very fat to the point where it’s having an effect on his ability to get around the ring. Only 6’1″, Solis now weights in the neighborhood of 260, much too fat for him to carry around the ring. He still has good hand speed but zero power. This would be a beating similar to the Arreola fight, but Solis would fade much quicker and not be willing to take the kind of beating that Arreola did.
Alexander Povetkin -This is probably the toughest opponent that Vitali has right now in the heavyweight division. Povetkin is a pressure fighter known for having a high work rate. However, he’s much short and small at 6’2″ and wouldn’t be able to get near Vitali without taking severe punishment. Povetkin would be better off losing some baby fat and moving down to the cruiserweight division because he doesn’t have the size to compete with the Klitschko brothers.
He’s young enough to hang around until they both retire and then maybe he might win a title. However, he’s still very short for a heavyweight and will need to take a lot of punishment in his fights to keep winning. Against Vitali, Povetkin won’t lay a glove on him and will lose every round until the fight is eventually stopped around the 8th because both of Povetkin’s eyes are closed from swelling.
Eddie Chambers – Too small, too weak and too heavy to compete with Vitali. Chambers struggled at times against Alexander Dimitrenko before beating him by a 12 round majority decision in July. This by far was Chamber’s best win of his career, but it was really nothing special considering that Dimitrenko was totally overrated as a fighter. Right now, a lot of boxing fans have gotten excited about Chambers because of the Dimitrenko fight and are under the mistaken impression that he’s the best thing since sliced bread because of that win.
However, beating Dimitrenko is no big deal because the big Ukrainian has no power and can’t fight on the inside the way Klitschko can. Chambers struggled to beat a grossly overweight Samuel Peter in March, winning a close 10 round majority decision. I saw the fight and if Peter had come in at a reasonable weight, he would have beaten Chambers, make no mistake about it.
Against Vitali, Chambers would be way over his head and would lose every round of the fight before it gets stopped by, say, the 6th round. Chambers may stick around and absorb punishment longer than that, especially if he runs all night but he won’t be competitive and will just be losing rounds by not fighting.
Tags: 37 Responses to “Can Anyone Beat Vitali Klitschko?”
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vitali beats everyone they put in front of him. thats all you can ask him to do. its not that we americans dont like him, its just that its not our style of boxing. Americans werent crazy about lennox either, because his style is much the same as vitali’s. americans love three things in boxing. speed, uppercuts, and strong left hooks. vitali isnt great at any of these. No doubt though that the klitschko bros are the best in the business right now.
americans are talkin about other divisions when they knew that they no longer can dominate heavyweight division.before americans went mad about world champions and spoke endlessly about the heavyweights but ever since the russian bros threw all their boxers outa ring they are trying to down play their acheivement-thats very much american and western mentality-to try and underplay others strength and achievement.it is obvious now that western and americans are just waiting for vitali bros to get old-thats the only way left for them to oust them otherwise the vitali bros will keep kicking the backs of these american boxers.
americans are jelas of vitali bros thats y they are not praising him in their media.
VITALI KLITSCHKO IS THE BEST ALL AROUND HEAVYWEIGHT OF ALL TIME NO DOUBT. END OF STOREY.
Well Vital beat Arrerola with easy, well next is Kevin Johnson. This is a good bout to see, Johnson keep his distance and keep that Jab going he’ll beat Vital, Kevin KingPin get in the best shape very He’ll beat Vital no question.
c james, be freaking objective. The klitschkos are skilled, intelligent, ripped, athletic and hit harder than most heavyweights who have ever fought. they do fight defensively, give them the credit they deserve. You must be a racist.
I don’t remember an uppercut cutting vk’s eye in the lewis fight, it was a headbutt. Lewis was a great fighter. that was years ago. the guy asked whether anyone today could beat vk. get out of the past.
scott i know a fighter who can beat dr ironfist. the one and only froch whooper andre dirrell. hes so hard from your love you can beat the giant all night long
Arreola is a joke, fat, slow overhyped. Fair play vitali desered it. I personally think Haye would stand a better chance than arreola, much better!
Come off it you guys!!!!
The Klitchko’s really ain’t all that!! Lennox was in terrible shape when he thought Vitali… 18st 5lbs I believe… In his prime he’d have hammered Vitali… FACT!!!
Vitali and Wladimir are to bog standard, average boxers ruling in a crap division
Lets talk about important matters, such as Mayweather/Mosley/Pacman/Cotto!!!!
oh my god crt beleive people r biggin this guy up this much.vitali put on a good performance but arreola stood static in front ov him for much of the fight.a heavyweight with some decent head movement a few faints and decent ring genralship will beat this guy.arreola rocked him a couple ov times in the 1st few rounds with his left and vitali went to hold him.untill theres a heavyweight with some ov the above.no one will beat him.
Yeah what ever mate. The fight got stopped because vitali had a horrible cut, the doctor said he had to turn his head to see a punch. He would have got smashed if it had carried on. Keep dreaming…. Lewis beat vitali at the end of his career when vitali was coming in to his prime. Lewis was getting the upper hand as well who cares if vitali was up on the score sheet. How many fights do we see the other fighter get koed when they are winning on points?
Vitali was beating clearly Lennox and when the referee stoped the fight Lennox almost thanked Lord and prayed in the middle of the ring,the TKO was coming in the next 2-3 rounds for Vitali!
Vitali is a top 3 heavyweight of all time!Maybe the best ever!
Lewis beat Vitali although people are saying otherwise all you have to do is look at Vitalis eye! So no matter what u say Lewis will go down as the winner of the fight. Also Lewis has beat everyone he has fought avenging both 2 defeats he had.
Not sure how long some of you have been following boxing but to say that VK would have beaten every heavyweight in history is naive. Don’t forget that prime Tyson was not the fat bloke with a face tattoo. Prime Ali was not the punchy plodder that lost to Spinks, Holmes and Berbick. Prime Holmes was not the old dude that lost to Holyfield. Those three alone would have beaten VK and so would plenty of others, because VK is not a fighter – he’s a big athlete.
He’s the best around at the moment, for sure, but not the best ever. No way.
Lennox Lewis DID beat Vitali!!!! For F**ks sake. He cut him with a PUNCH which ended the fight. Therefore lennox wins by TKO. Even without the cut, if you watch the fight again you will see that Lennox was beginning to dominate in the last round. That uppercut he landed was Brutal! Anyway he was at the end of his career & out of shape, Vitali was in his prime!
With Bonzo on this one – A yound tyson would have destroyed both brothers, they wouldnt of stood a chance. Yes Lewis was behind and if it wasnt for the cut Lewis would of lost, Vitali wanted to carry on but the doctor wouldnt allow it. Check out the uppercut from Lewis in the fight which Vitali took, thast was a big one.. the only reason Lewis won was because of the cut end of. why do you think Lewis retired?? He didnt wanna fight Vitali again, simple.
roger lopez.a young mike tyson would easy beat klitschko,with his speed power and his head movements.
i think anthony thompson did a good job against vlaimir but he has to hit the weights some more the klisthko brother have problem with people their own height because all they use is the one two combinations because oponents are to short to counter back they dont have iron chins is just no one can touch them but right know no one can beat them the best heavyweights are out of shape and fat
Haye is the above all american hopefuls in the heavy weight divison!
not only did lennox lewis bust up klistckos eye to the point that they had to stop the fight but if you watch the fight again, lennox started off slowly and was getting rocked by some pretty good shots, Vitali took an early lead but by the last rounds lennox clearly had the momentum and was rocking vitali with some big shots of his own. The fight was pretty much in lewis’s corner at that time.
I am sure Vitali needed plastic surgery after his fight with Lewis…his eye looked like it had a raw piece of arrachera over it. Vitali did give a valiant effort and I like him better than his younger bro. I am curious to see what would happen if Vitali and Tua fought…no prediction though.
roger are you another retard that knows nothing like most of these silly american fanboys. vitali was stopped by the ringside doctor against lennox lewis because lennox had caused so much damage to vitalis eye which would have got worse had the fight been allowed to continue, what is wrong with all you people. please learn something before commenting. taylor was ahead on points against froch recently but what did that matter when boxing is over 12 rounds, the score meant nothing when taylor got knocked clean out and that may or may not have happened with lennox and vitali, my point being that lennox won the fight within the rules by tko whether you people like it or not, thats boxing
No one can beat Vitali. I don’t think anyone in the history of the division would beat him. Those two brothers are too big and too smart. Anyone who thinks Tyson would beat his is crazy. Tyson would not last long. You can’t get inside that jab and right hand. It’s like fighting a steal wall. If it wasn’t for the cut I think Vitali would have won. I still don’t know why he quit. He was winning every round of that fight. I guess he grew a pair since then.
To Joe Shmo and Will
If my Aunt had balls she’d be my uncle!
Get a grip eh.
lennox did beat vitali by the rules of boxing you idiots, ok so vitali was ahead on points, so what thats not how boxing works unless it goes to the score cards which it didn’t because lennox hit the guy with enough force to do damage which would have got worse if the fight went on. or are you idiots saying fights should continue even if a guys eyes are ripped to bits and he can’t see?. lennox won whether you like it or not
arreola should be in a sumo ring not a boxing ring
arreola better than haye? ha ha ha ha ha ha, what at a pie eating competition ?. another ridiculously overhyped american was soundly beaten. are we starting to see a pattern here ?. arreola was hyped to the max in yankee land, probably because burger country was hoping that the fat bloke could restore some pride into its long ago failed boxing scene. yet stupid gilfraud uses the loss as another veiled dig at britain. how do you work out that haye would have fallen long before arreola ?. ok haye may not beat vitali but im sure his speed, fitness and reflexes would have got him out of the way of a big percentage of those right hands that static target chris ” telletubby ” arreola ate all night!.
Lennox didn’t beat Vitali,if it wasnt for cut Lennox would have lost. Vilali has all the skill of Lewis without the suspect chin.
Lennox Lewis beat him. And Tyson in his prime, and Holyfield too. We don’t like the Klitschko brothers, the way they fights. Thei are not spectaculos.
The writer is correct: the answer to the question he poses is “NO.” Haye would have been flat on his back after two rounds last night. Arreola has a chin, if nothing else.
Lennox got KO’d by two journeymen, Hasbeen Rahman and Crybaby McCall. How come McCall can’t cry but Arreola can and get away with it? Vitali has never even been behind in a fight, and he was winning the one against Lewis. And he’s a better fighter now than when he fought Lennox: his defense and footwork are far better now. Vitali would pose a big problem for any heavyweight at any time.
big lennox was the best ever no one can stand next to him
Have you seen the Lewis fight? If not for the cut, Vitali would’ve won.
James Toney?!! Are you high?!
Vitali is smarter than Wladimir, able to adapt and use his strengths to win. Wlad is able to protect himself against others’ strengths–very different.
JS
the bottomline the 2 brothers are in a different world. its 1a & 1b and are 50-50 even as who is the best. fantasy match but would be disturbed by it which sucks. they are both on a roll and will not lose again. very good fighters but we’ll never know if they could have been really great. not there fault.
i would like 2 see james toney get a shot he is 2 clever for both fighters has speed and a little power how rahman got a shot i dont know when toney whooped his butt in 3 but got the result changed.any of the top heavyweights from the 80 s or early 90 s would beat both klitckos there opponents have been pathetic
Lennox lewis already did. But props to arreola he hung in their as best he could. I personally think it was too soon for him and he is most definately young enough to come again.