Is that he lookd so... damned beatable, but he keeps on winning. Most of the punches he threw looked incredibly slow and didn't appear all that hard, but they landed more often than not and seemed to hurt Williams everytime they landed solidly.
Does anyone else think this way? I was picking his performance apart when I watched the replay of his fight last night, but the man continues to win lol. I think he's one of those guys who's just awkward as hell. So much so, that you cant even begin to appreciate how awkward until you're in the ring with him. Really hard to time and unpredictable.
My former trainer described Corey Spinks like that when he spent a week at the gym Spinks was training in. He said "He'll beat most people because you take most of the fight trying to figure him out and how to time him. By the time you do... fights over."
(Interestingly enough, he also said that many of his sparring partners do very well because they've sparred him so many times that they know what to expect, and that any good fighter who was given a rematch would likely beat him. Guess we'll see in the Zab rematch huh?)
It seems to me that because he keeps his hands so low and his chin up, that the way to fight Vitali would be to stay in the pocket and use his size against him. Dig short hooks into his body and head from inside. However, I've not seen anyone able to carry it out, or willing to try yet.
Because of this, I would like to see Toney get a shot, because I think he would be able to get inside of Vitali's reach. I dont think he could hurt him to the chin, but I do think he could give him fits inside by being busy and defensively frustrating.
Can James take Vitali's power? Would he be able to avoid it for the whole fight? Could James hit Vitali hard enough to get his respect? All interesting questions.
Vitali does look beatable. His stamina looks to be ok but not great, and he carries his hands low which leaves him open to a big punch. On the flip side, his punches never look like they have much on them, but he keeps knocking people around the ring when he connects, so me thinks he's one of the Foreman type guys with really heavy hands.
As for Toney beating him, it all depends on whether or not he can get inside. He would be at a huge reach disadvantage, and he doesn't hit hard enough to take advantage of the low hands of Vitali and take him out with a big shot. But if he can get inside early and often imo he could wear him out to the body and score a late round stoppage. To do that he's going to have to take some shots. Toney is damn good and avoiding and rolling with punches, but I just don't know how many shots he could take.
I may be one of the only ones, but i think that Vitali is a pretty good HW.
He uses his size well, has a pretty good jab, pucnhes in combinations, throws punches from a variety of angles, and has a good chin.
His footwork is not the greatest but he makes up for it with his ability to keep his oppoenents off him
His stamina is always questioned and was continually questioned throught the Williams fight yet he kept throwing punches so I'm not sure how bad it really is.
His power is questioned but i think he hits harder than most people give him credit for. He just doesn't load up on every punch to avoid being put in a spot where he gets countered. I think even those little shots that seem to hold no power probably jar his opponents.
Call me crazy, but i think that Vitali would give any HW of any era a run for their money.
I think Vitali has George Foreman type power because he has often hurt or KO'd an opponent simply with arm punches, no fluid body movement behind them.