'Prime' Wlad vs 'Prime' Vitali - Who wins?

To me, Wlad has reached his peak now which is late at the age of 35 whilst Vitali's is harder to judge as it would have probably been during the time he was retired due to injury but if we used his pre-retirement period as his prime i.e. when he fought Lewis, who do you think would win?

Wlad would be trouble for anyone due to his safety first style but I think Vitali would have too much and would be the one fighter to not be at a disadvantage in terms of height and reach and overall physical presence.

In addition, Vitali's granite chin would give him huge confidence to get close.

Basically, both at their best, who would you favour?

Vitali, and with some ease. Actually enjoys the game, a natural fighter and has more variety than Wlad. The younger brother's jab holds Vitali off for a bit, but Klitschko senior doesn't mind taking a couple to land his own artillery, and he would land enough heavy blows to get kid brother out of there any time after round 6, I would guess.

Due to all that is wrong with the current heavyweight scene, we will never know. Shame on them.

Vitali wins without too much bother. Same physical attributes except Vitali has a tremendous chin and would simply walk Wlad down over a few rounds before grinding him to a halt. I could see Wlad trapped on the ropes, under fire and been rescued by the referee anytime after 4 rounds.

Vitali would be a handful for any heavyweight in history on a head to head basis, whereas Wlad simply does not have the punch resistance to be held in the same respect.

Incidentally, this thread highlights one of the saddest aspects of the division. Forget Haye versus the brothers, the "biggest" fight of this era will never happen.

Agree with the others. You have to go with Vatali because of the chin, combined with the fact he would go looking for bombs against his younger brother.

Either he stops him late or wins on the scorecard by 3-4 rounds.

I find it a little strange that everyone seems so dismissive of Wladimir's chances here. Don't get me wrong, I pick Vitali to win this eventually, but I would forsee some difficulties along the line.

Certainly, Wladimir has never faced anyone with the same physical dimensions and all-round ability as Vitali. But on the other side of the coin (save for Lennox Lewis), the exact same is true in reverse. It's clear that if Vitali lands with anything approaching frequency on Wladimir's chin, the fight is over. However, since working with Steward, Wladimir has shown that he can negate good Heavyweight punchers such as Peter and Haye. The consensus seems to be that Vitali simply walks through his brother for an early stoppage, but I don't see that. I think he'd have to work long and hard to get that opening against Wladimir, who has faster hands, and equally effective jab and, though some don't notice it, decent foot work.

Vitali gets his man late on, but I have a feeling he's behind on points when it happens. The two of them are evenly matched for stamina (something Wladimir probably isn't used to facing, in fairness) and I believe that after boxing neatly for nine or ten rounds, the older brother finally gets his younger counterpart in to a brawl, where his chin is the crucial factor. Once the two of them are engaged fully, Wladimir gets taken out.

Chris, I don't think anyone has said it would be an early stoppage? I think I am the earliest and I said "after round 4" which I wouldn't call early?

Vitali is just a more natural fighter and watching him walk through some beastly shots from Lewis, I don't feel he would have any inclination other then to do the same with Wlad. He only needs to take one step to be close enough to Wlad to unload and I don't envisage him having too many problems doing so. He may well get caught with the jab on the way in, but Wlad just simply won't have the punch to keep him off for long.

Rounds 5 and 6 would count as early in the Prediction League.

(Cough, cough)

Union Cane wrote:Rounds 5 and 6 would count as early in the Prediction League.

(Cough, cough)

I couldn't give a monkeys about your prediction league Union.

No offense, like.

Have to go with Vitali I suppose, matches him for size and has that granite chin to give him the confidence to march straight through the jab/straight right threat.

You've got to pick Vitali to win that one. Same size, similar power, better chin. I think Wlad's the more skillful of the brothers, but fights to a more limited plan.

Given that Vitali was going well against Lewis (not that I want to open that can of worms), you'd have to suspect he'd do pretty well against another Steward fighter with a worse chin. Let's face it, if Lewis had possessed Wlad's chin when he fought Vitali, he would have been knocked out.

Just for the record, I hate this transatlantic 'who wins'. I prefer 'who would win?'

Vitali would gradually wear him down (would ignore Wlad's jabs and keep moving forward) and start thudding unanswered head shots until the ref stopped it around the 7th round.