Even so, he had 11 defenses, 4 against undefeated fighters.
Joe Fraizer only had 4 defenses, Ali being the only undefeated fighter, who also then beat him twice (and some feel Ali also won the first fight). In addition to getting brutally destroyed by Foreman. And the people he defended against were blown up middleweights and light heavies. Even Ellis, who he beat for the vacant title had lost to Carter at middle weight.
Marciano had 6 defenses, and tho undefeated, his record is padded with more bums than any other. Even with his defenses Charles and Walcott were way past it, both had lost 2 just a couple fights prior. People like them and Moore are "names", but even Archie was 40ish with over 150 fights. Walcott was 50-18 lol. He only won a title and defended vs the same person (Charles). Yet people like to remember Marciano and the era fondly.. but yea, it is the weakest division of all time.
Even Charles won the vacant title from Walcott, and then defended it vs the bum of the month club, outside of Louis.
I mean, do people give Floyd a bunch of credit for beating a master, sneaky, and skilled fighter like Augustus or beating faded multi division champs like Gatti? No because Augustus has a shit record, and Gatti was old and faded. So these fighters from past generations should not get the nostalgia factor to make their records something they aren't.
Ali, Fraizer, Foreman, Tyson, Lewis, Louis ALL have worse loses. Vitali's 2 loses were a freak injury (which lasted for years and caused a temporary retirement), and a cut in a fight he was doing quite well in. And those aren't excuses for the losses, just putting them into context. Even Ali has lost a decision and been knocked down multiple times. Vitali has the best KO% of HW champions and was never knocked down in professional boxing (he was in kickboxing). Couple that with 11 title defenses of a legit belt. I think he has a VERY strong case.
