By Dennis Broadhurst: Now has come the point where we have to put Vitali Klitschko up there with the remembered, great fighters. I recently wrote two ranking articles on the heavyweight division and placed Klitschko as the 16th greatest heavyweight of all time in front of Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. I feel that to get a ranking among the greats a fighter must prove them-self during their time and be the dominant champion or at least one of the dominant champions in their division.

Klitschko has done this, he has only been defeated on two occasions, once because of a shoulder injury against Chris Byrd and secondly against Lennox Lewis because of a terrible cut over one of his eyes. After losing to Lewis who himself is an all time great many fans called on a rematch which Lennox refused. I think that Lewis did not want to go in the ring again with a man who was stronger and bigger than him and who could take a better punch than him, don’t get me wrong Lewis won their fight fairly because of strong punching to open a cut but Klitschko was ahead on the cards and looked to be hurting the tiring Lewis.

Let’s look at what strengths Vitali has. His first is his most obvious, his size. Vitali is 6ft8 and around 250lbs, what a tank! We have not seen a champion of such size who has the skill of Vitali apart from his brother Wladimir. Vitali has something his brother does not, an iron chin, Vitali is along there with guys like Muhammad Ali and Jake LaMotta when it comes to taking a good punch. Something that some people may not see is how well Vitali uses his size, he can use ihs long legs to move around the ring very quickly and his reach helps him fire his huge straight shots from range. We saw how well Klitschko moved from Arreola recently and then pouncing his face and body made him look amateur. Klitschko it seems is perhaps one of the most dangerous fighters of all time, he can punch hard and can take a well as he gives, also most fighters are not used to fighting 6ft8 giants. I think if Vitali turned on his brother then the fans would love it and I think Vitali would win.

Vitali uses his strengths so well, he will NOT ever be beaten by David Haye, mark my words. Wladimir may fall victim to Haye on a lucky punch but Vitali will crush Haye if they meet. I hope Vitali boxes for a few more years because he is a great champion and I hope will retire as champion to go down in history as the best fighter of his time (Calling Lennox’s time the 90’s). I do not think Klitschko would beat the greats such as Ali, Tyson and Foreman but he would give them good fights.