Kostya Tszyu vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. @ 140

[Snopkins]

whaaaaat? Pryor would behead Kosta. Don't forget Leonard moved up to 147 in the olympics because pryor was whoppin his a$$. thats why leonard wouldn't fight him as a pro.

This has already been disputed,newb.Pryor turned down half a million to duck Sugar Ray Leonard


Now be gone.You clearly don't know anything about the sport of boxing.

[mickey malone]

Who are you trying to convince,malone? Julio Cesar Chavez was shot to bits by the time he fought Tszyu.Perhaps you missed Chavez's humiliating loss to unheralded journeyman Willy Wise just nine months previous to his loss to Tszyu.Chavez was past his prime by the time he fought Whitaker.He gradually got worse after that.


The fight with Calvin Grove was a complete mismatch.Grove hadn't won a relevant fight in years and was far too small for the division.This fight served as nothing more than a quick tune up for Tszyu.



Mayweather and bramble were nothing at this point and they both came to survive and stink the joint out in two of the worst fights that I have ever seen



Tszyu's resume is solid at best and nothing more

You're obviously having trouble with your reading comprehension.. My emphasis was on Tszyu beating southpaws, so you list opponents i have already listed as past prime..
Why waste time trolling posts that are beyond your understanding?

[BennyST]

Benny I disagree... the style matchup is ALL wrong for Zoo IMO

1)
Zoo's money punch? Straight right.
easiest punch to defend from and counter from Mayweather's typical stance? Straight right.

2) Inside fighting? it's all Mayweather.

1+2 Zoo needs to win a boxing match (KO is unlikely see point 1) ) on outside or midrange (Zoo does not want it on the inside).

Can he? I doubt it.

I see Mayweather getting a UD as Zoo gets more and more discouraged throughout the fight.
Zoo does not look outclassed, because Mayweather is far from ****** and would give him all the respect Zoo should get by any fighter around his weight, but -given styles- I just don't see a way Zoo can get the W here.

That's why I have Mayweather winning but Tszyu had a lot more than a straight right to win fights.

I think you're also underrating the inside part of Tszyu's game. If he is getting beaten on the inside, he would resort to shoving Mayweather, wrestling him, throwing him down when he is inside.

It depends which Tszyu it is. If it's the earlier version, I think it's a very hard for both guys. If it's the latter that relied much more on just the basics, then yes, it's a UD without too much trouble. Earlier version had a lot more in his arsenal than just a 1,2. He was a brutal body puncher.

Either way, you could say the same thing about Castillo. Castillo was a pressure fighter that waited and used more counter punching than most pressure guys do and with Mayweather leading more, he had trouble. He landed the right a fair bit. It was his best punch in that fight.

You could very easily say Castillo best punch is his left hook and short right. How did he get close to beating Mayweather when they are his most easily defended punches? It's the way the guy uses them. Tszyu has a great range of right hands and I just don't see it being as easy as most others do.

He was always very good at working against speed and this fight would be fought at the pace and style that most suited him. That alone gives Tszyu advantages. He has time to set up all his shots and get into his perfect positioning. Who knows? No one could say sadly, because hey never did fight.

Also, I don't think he ever gets discouraged. Not in that style of fight.

Did someone say twice as many punches? Tszyu was sparing and accurate with his shots, not a volume puncher.

[BennyST]

Corley is a southpaw, Mayweather's radar detection is a bit faulty against them since he can't employ a good portion of his usual defense. Tszyu isn't a southpaw I think he would have a hard time landing a shot like that on Floyd.

I truly think trying to time Mayweather and counter is a losing strategy. You can time fast punchers like Pacquaio who are quick but not calculated, but Mayweather doesn't give you much to counter. He gives you a very small window to counter him with his feet and how he punches and shifts so quickly. I think the best way to beat Mayweather is to either pull a Castillo and overload his defense or be a southpaw so he can't employ his full defense.

Castillo didn't overload his defense. He didn't throw that many punches. He just knew how to fight him. People act as if Castillo just charged in went bananas. Wasn't the case at all.

On a stoppage win for Mayweather: No chance in hell. Tszyu could take one hell of a punch. Mayweather has a decent one but not that good. The only time he has ever been hurt bad was against Phillips and that was as much due to exhaustion and coming in in ****eful condition as it was him being hurt. He didn't go down and the ref jumped in.

Just wouldn't happen in this fight. Hilarious.

[NAB]

I think this is a closer fight than people think. One person who didn't underestimate Tszyu was Mayweather himself. He never seemed to talk trash about Tszyu - I think that says a lot.
Tszyu never had a problem with speed. His two losses came when he struggled to make the weight, and against guys nothing like Mayweather.
Interesting fight, and one that I wished happend.

[BennyST]

I quite agree!

I for one, think Mayweather's style is all wrong for Tszyu, and Floyd would stop him late, but Paquiao just may have been custom made for him..

Has anyone noticed what Tszyu did to every southpaw he faced?.. He blitzed them!..
None of them are ATG's, but all good fighters nevertheless..
In fact, it's very difficult to think of another fighter who had a better record against lefties:-

Pedro Sanchez - Crafty southpaw from the Dominican Republic, and had just given a 27-0 Oba Carr his toughest fight in a SD loss.. KO'd by 7
Hugo Pineda - Southpaw KO specialist, who moved up to cruiserweight!.. Kostya KO'd him in 11..
Corey Johnson - Another capable southpaw, KO'd in 4
Ismael Armando Chavez - A tough and durable Argentinian southpaw, totally dominated, and KO'd for the only time in a 53 fight career..
Shambra Mitchell - Slick American southpaw, KO'd twice
Zab Juddah - Another top unbeaten US fighter, exposed at the top of his game.. And yes, he's a southpaw..

He beat prime versions of Oktay Urkal, who was the unbeaten EU champ, an awkward slippery fighter who no one wanted to fight, a poorman's Mayweater if you like, and Kostya had to go the DC to beat him..
Jan Piet Bergman was an unbeaten puncher from South Africa.. Tszu went toe to toe, and KO'd him in 6..
Another terrific performance was against Cuban star, Diosbelys Hurtado, a fighter who only lost to 3 world champs in his whole career.. Tszyu took care of him a lot easier than what Pernell Whitaker did..
What about the hugely underrated performance against the big punching Miguel Angel Gonzalez.. He'd only dropped a DC to DLH, before getting KO'd by Kostya..

For those that say he has a poor resume, i'd only agree to that in quantity.. The quality of his resume is in complete contrast.. You can say that a lot of his opposition were past prime, but when you're schooling ex-champs inside of 25 pro fights, i think it means you're doing something a bit special.. R.Ruelas, LaPorte, Bramble, Grove, R.Mayweather, Chavez and Leiga were all PP imo, but not shot.. And for those who say he loses to all the top Americans, i'd pick him against Pryor and Perkins any day..

Add Jake Rodriguez to that list.

He was fighting great ex-champs and future champions within ten fights! Find someone these days who does that.

But, Micky, come on mate. How do you see Kostya getting stopped by Mayweather? I can understand if you thought he would get stopped by a guy like Mayweather, if he had a Tommy Hearns punch, but Mayweather doesn't even try to knock guys out. He couldn't even if he tried to. He's just not that type of fighter.

If he tries to knock him out he leaves himself open for the one major way he could lose. Not only that but the fight wouldn't be tiring for either guy. Neither wold be gassed in the slightest by the this fight therefore neither guy would be able to get hurt from that type of exhaustion. They would both cruise through it, doing their thing. Kostya trying to get Mayweather to drop his hands by going to the body and shooting upstairs, timing him, trying to slowly break through, roughing him up, wrestling etc etc, Mayweather standing back picking his spots and keeping away from the right while countering and piling up the points.

The only thing I do see in that vein is a possible early flash KD by Mayweather but even that is very tiny, tiny possibility. What do you see in either guy that leads you to believe a stoppage is possible? I'm intrigued.

The guys saying he's just a one dimensional power fighter with nothing else...You don't get to that level, stay champ for a decade at one of the most talented divisions, stay in the P4P top ten for a decade by being one dimensional. I guess you need to actually watch him to figure that out.

Although I'm agreeing that Mayweather wins, I see it being much harder than most here and not an easy win at all. Tszyu was his best against boxers, and although Mayweather is a different breed than most, he has more than his share of trouble against Tszyu, a guy who thrived in that kind of fight and being able to fight at his pace and distance.

Anyway, we all see things differently I guess.

[BennyST]

I think this is a closer fight than people think. One person who didn't underestimate Tszyu was Mayweather himself. He never seemed to talk trash about Tszyu - I think that says a lot.
Tszyu never had a problem with speed. His two losses came when he struggled to make the weight, and against guys nothing like Mayweather.
Interesting fight, and one that I wished happend.

Funny that. He didn't make weight only twice in his career and they were his only losses. Both fights in which he needed to come in with good conditioning. Hatton fight is what it is. An old guy finally giving it up. The Philips loss though was disastrous. He was out-boxing him easily before slowly running out of everything.

I often wonder what would have been had he stayed in Russia and set up a pro career from there or moved instead to the US. I know Mosley always talked about him moving away from what he became so well known for in the ams amongst all those top guys like Mosley, Forrest, Oscar etc.

Oh well....Had about as good of a career as you can still.

[NAB]

I honestly don't think Tszyu could beat any American greats. I'm sure he's a hero where you're from, but he is not going to come close to being competitive with the greatest fighter in boxing today.

Add Jake Rodriguez to that list.

He was fighting great ex-champs and future champions within ten fights! Find someone these days who does that.

B

Juan La Porte - fourth fight.

Actually, La Porte said an interesting thing in the Ring magazine - the hardest punch he ever took in his career was from Tszyu.
A straight right?
No.
A left to the body.

[BennyST]

Juan La Porte - fourth fight.

Actually, La Porte said an interesting thing in the Ring magazine - the hardest punch he ever took in his career was from Tszyu.
A straight right?
No.
A left to the body.

Then only a few fights later fought Sammy Fuentes, who very soon afterward became the World champion, and knocked him out in the first round. I think his punch variety and general skill get highly underrated. It's as if most people think of him as a straight right and nothing more. Knocked out Hurtado with that same left hand to the body.

[wmute]

That's why I have Mayweather winning but Tszyu had a lot more than a straight right to win fights.

I think you're also underrating the inside part of Tszyu's game. If he is getting beaten on the inside, he would resort to shoving Mayweather, wrestling him, throwing him down when he is inside.

It depends which Tszyu it is. If it's the earlier version, I think it's a very hard for both guys. If it's the latter that relied much more on just the basics, then yes, it's a UD without too much trouble. Earlier version had a lot more in his arsenal than just a 1,2. He was a brutal body puncher.

Either way, you could say the same thing about Castillo. Castillo was a pressure fighter that waited and used more counter punching than most pressure guys do and with Mayweather leading more, he had trouble. He landed the right a fair bit. It was his best punch in that fight.

You could very easily say Castillo best punch is his left hook and short right. How did he get close to beating Mayweather when they are his most easily defended punches? It's the way the guy uses them. Tszyu has a great range of right hands and I just don't see it being as easy as most others do.

He was always very good at working against speed and this fight would be fought at the pace and style that most suited him. That alone gives Tszyu advantages. He has time to set up all his shots and get into his perfect positioning. Who knows? No one could say sadly, because hey never did fight.

Also, I don't think he ever gets discouraged. Not in that style of fight.

Did someone say twice as many punches? Tszyu was sparing and accurate with his shots, not a volume puncher.

I was referring to to Zoo's right as his way to END fights, not winning them. He is an excellent boxer, with a vast array of punches, the one doing the damage is however the right hand shot from a good range. Not something you see landing on Mayweather.

As for the inside game part, sorry but Mayweather beats him at any game Zoo wants to play there. Hatton was getting manhandled and murdered with body shots as he tried all his shoving and wrestling repertoire.

Castillo and Zoo fight nothing alike. Castillo had a 9lbs advantage on Mayweather in both of their fights. Castillo had an inside game on Mayweather's level, and these are keys. Mayweather would be perfectly fine spending all night in a phone booth with Zoo, he definitely did not want to do that with a guy outweighing him by 10lbs and who happened to be the *only* other great infighter available at 35-47 in the last 10-15 years.

Castillo landed short right hands, or some very arched punches without full power. Can Zoo land some punches? Yes of course, but they won't be those be the kind of punches he does damage with. Zoo's right hand is an equalizer when given enough space.

You are right that Zoo did great against speedsters, but -unlike those guys- Mayweather is first and foremost a calculating fighter with great timing, like Zoo, but with better defense, faster and rangier. Zoo has more power in his right, but I don't see that coming into play in a chess match. The slick guys Zoo fought were simply not in his league in terms of boxing IQ. Mayweather certainly is.

I do not want to take anything away anything from Zoo, but PBF is ALL wrong for him.