Tszyu blew a chance to face Floyd Mayweather

[EMACULATE]

I agree.

Personally I was not pleased by his choice to fight Gatti however. As much as I love Gatti, I couldn't quite get over the fact that he was outboxed and beat by Manfredy and beat twice by Robinson. Gatti winning a vacant title wasn't enough for me to place Gatti as a worthy foe for Mayweather or the type of opponent Floyd needed to claim his third world title. That win made the Ring move Mayweather to #1p4p, where I felt the p4p move required a opponent the likes of a fighter like Tszyu.

You must be a new comer or didnt follow the sport back then.

Reason Mayweather fought Gatti is because Gatti was a household name, PPV attraction and an exciting fighter. This started building his name on a big time basis. Mayweather was already a very talented fighter with obvious skills. He was'nt drawing as many supporters so to build his fan base he took on the very fan friendly Gatti. Which to all was an obvious mis-match but Gatti was the bigger fighter, great power and good body puncher.

[Scott9945]

You must be a new comer or didnt follow the sport back then.

Reason Mayweather fought Gatti is because Gatti was a household name, PPV attraction and an exciting fighter. This started building his name on a big time basis. Mayweather was already a very talented fighter with obvious skills. He was drawing as many supporters so to build his fan base he took on the very fan friendly Gatti. Which to all was an obvious mis-match but Gatti was the bigger fighter, great power and good body puncher.

You can probably safely assume that someone here with 57,000+ posts isn't a "newcomer".

[TBear]

You must be a new comer or didnt follow the sport back then.

Reason Mayweather fought Gatti is because Gatti was a household name, PPV attraction and an exciting fighter. This started building his name on a big time basis. Mayweather was already a very talented fighter with obvious skills. He was'nt drawing as many supporters so to build his fan base he took on the very fan friendly Gatti. Which to all was an obvious mis-match but Gatti was the bigger fighter, great power and good body puncher.

You humor me. I was most likely an extreme boxing addict before you were even born.

Yes Gatti was a "name" but the reason Mayweather fought him was only to gain a title. But Tszyu was much better regarded. Tszyu unified all three titles(wba/wbc & IBF) and was at a time the only unified champion in the sport. Gatti was popular and I loved him but being popular and highly touted are two different things. Do I think Mayweather could have beaten Tszyu? Yes!
But Mayweather took the easy route to a title so honestly we will never truly know.

[JK1700]

This is one fight I would have loved to see happen. Kostya had the perfect style to give Floyd trouble and I think it would have been very interesting to see how it would have played out. He had a very good jab, very good power, good enough defence to keep rounds competitive against Floyd and he was also a very smart guy in the ring. Of course I think Floyd would've won but it would have been very interesting to watch. I don't blame either guy for it not happening. Tszyu had injuries and Ricky Hatton was his manditory who he had to face to keep the belt, and Floyd went on to beat Ricky Hatton soon after. Plus they were with different networks. If it had happened I see it being similar to the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight. A competitive but clear-cut victory for Floyd. I don't think it would have been easy at all. Kostya Tszyu was an excellent boxer with a lot of tools.

As for people claiming that Miguel Cotto was Floyd's toughest fight of his whole career. Don't be ridiculous. The Jose Luis Castillo and Oscar De La Hoya fights were much more difficult and if we are going by the closeness of the rounds and how the fight was fought I would say that the Ricky Hatton fight was tougher for him as well. The Mayweather-Cotto fight really wasn't competitive or tough for Floyd at all. Yeah he was bleeding a little bit but at no point was he ever hurt, or looking like he might or would lose. Take away rounds 6 and 8 and the fight pretty much would have been a completely one-sided domination.

[Emon723]

Tszyu had his biggest fight anyway with Ricky Hatton, had he decided to continue his boxing career after that and be inserted in Floyd's sched, he'd lose from there, Mayweather fought Mitchell and Judah after Tszyu's loss to Hatton.

Kostya missed out only two opponents, Mayweather and the other against Dela Hoya, I dont think he'd be successful at 147 through.

[wmute]

Don't think anyone is too blame for the fight not happening.

If it happened PBF is all wrong for Zoo, who would find a mobile target, particularly apt at nullifying right hands (back with 2003-5 reflexes), who also fights better than him on the inside and has a longer reach. Styles make fights, and Zoo does not stand a chance.