[Syd Thrift]

We really, really need to redo Wlad. No way is his power equal to an in his prime Mike Tyson. I haven't done nearly as many of these as y'all have, but perhaps my ratings will give a better rater a place to start.

Style: Boxer. Right now he's "Either". While he could theoretically go in and start slugging it out with people, I don't see him doing that, period.

Fouls: Seldom. Stays the same.

FI: 0 (from 1). Vitali is not a pressure fighter.

FO: 4 (stays)

Cover Up: 1 (stays) I think this is actually pretty accurate. He really isn't all that good at covering up when a Lamon Brewster happens to land a good punch.

Go for KO: 1 (from 3) After the Rahman fight, and the Thompson fight for that matter, I don't see how you can rate the guy higher than this. He flat out will not go for a knockout when it's presented to him. Even his post-fight interviews have him asking why the other guy's corner didn't throw in the towel earlier.

Draw Power: 8 (from 5). Truth be told, he's very, very popular in Europe.

Conditioning: 1 (was 2). I don't think I've ever seen Wlad come into a fight out of shape.

Intellect: 9 (from 6). He's a very, very smart guy, and in TBCB terms his trainer should basically be able to tell him to fight outside every single round.

Control vs. Boxer: 11 (unchanged). About comparable to Lennox Lewis in this regard.

Control vs. Slugger: 11 (from 9). This is a bit of a departure, but Wlad's issues do not come from not being able to handle awkward brawler types, they come from the fact that he can be taken down by a guy with one punch.

Avoid Knockdowns: 3 (from 2). I'd give him a lower rating but there really aren't any heavies at Wlad's level worse than a 3. Anyway, he's at least as prone to being put on the floor as Joe Louis.

Chin vs. KO 1 (unchanged). I will give him this: when he's put down, he does get up a lot of the time. See: the Samuel Peter fight.

Recovery 3 (unchanged): This, coupled with the KD1 of 3, means he's effectively a 6 after he's been dropped once. I thought I was going to need to drop this, but a. nobody with a 4 or worse is in the same league as Wlad, and b. I think it actually works out okay.

Resistance to Cuts 2 (unchanged): He isn't a bleeder and he isn't not a bleeder.

Absorb Punishment 3 (unchanged): Again, everybody below him is an opponent, and some of the grognards here (note: that is not a derogatory term) don't like ratings where top-flight boxers are compared to Mel Turnbow, even if it's just the one rating.

Killer Instinct 6 (from 7): I'm tempted to give him something really, really low, but even Emile Griffith gets a 7. Tony Thompson has a 5 and he closes off fights less often than Wlad does, so a 6 is about right.

Aggressiveness 8 (unchanged): A pretty meaningless rating in TBCB but Wlad does start pumping the jab pretty much from the get-go.

Endurance 10 (from 6): Did Wlad have staying problems earlier in his career? Nowadays he seems like, if anything, a guy who takes his guys to decisions when he shouldn't and scores mid to late "the other guy got tired" style KOs. He's always in shape coming into bouts and consistently seems to be the second guy to get tired.

Defense 0 (unchanged): Very few heavies get rated better than 0 and I don't see a compelling reason to rate him ahead of Lennox Lewis in this regard. Like Lewis, he's relatively hard to hit not so much because of great defense but because of the fact that he controls fights with his skills so effectively.

Fast Starter 3 (unchanged): The early rounds are where he shows his weakness, so giving him a little control hit early on sounds about right.

Fight on Ropes 3 (unchanged): A theoretical rating, as Vitali's ring generalship is such that he rarely if ever gets stuck on the ropes.

Hitting Power 7 (from 12): I don't know how anyone can say that Klitschko hits like Earnie Shavers with a straight face. His non-decision victories tend to come from TKOs and late-round tired man knockouts. Going down the list... he doesn't outhit Riddick Bowe or Joe Louis, so a 10 is out... he's regarded an inferior puncher to Hasim Rahman and probably isn't on the level of Chris Arreola or George Chuvalo so forget about 9... I have a hard time ranking him with Jack Dempsey at 8... Ali at 7 seems a good comp. Wlad can, in theory, land a harder right than Ali had but he uses the jab so, so much that I have to put him here and could even be convinced to drop him lower.

Punches Landed 40 (from 38). Compubox thinks he's very accurate for a heavy. Is this the residue of a lack of quality in the division right now? Probably, but you can only judge a guy by what he's actually done. This is a level higher than Lennox Lewis, but Lewis now has a great deal more power than Wlad so that evens out.

Counterpunches 42 (from 36). Part of Wlad's allure as a top boxer is how well he times his jab and dissuades guys from getting inside him. One way to simulate this in the game is to give him a high counter-punching rating. Boxers shoot and miss at their own peril.

Clinching 71 (same): He does clinch a lot, but most of the guys with higher ratings are not on his level. His brother is a 72.

Overall: Still a 9, but a much different kind of 9 than what he was before.