The Greatness of Kostya Tszyu

[Left Hook Tua]

kostya-hatton

here's the end of the hatton-tszyu fight.

[konaman]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned.

Kostya is one of the nicest people to ever set foot in the ring, just listen to the guy talk, he is a great person. Real class act.

[the_godslayer]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned.

Kostya is one of the nicest people to ever set foot in the ring, just listen to the guy talk, he is a great person. Real class act.

very very true mate, when he passed to torch on to Hatton (so to speak) at the end of their fight , he was oozing class and sincerity, props to the guy for that.

[Drunk Punch]

He was a true champion in every sense. I'd consider him an ATG.

[poeticlsykuac]

Anyone else think maybe that Tszyu fight took something from Hatton, he got wobbled a bit easier after that fight. Tszyu it Hatton hard on the chin and Hatton handled it, I was very impressed.

Tszyu was a fighter that had a chance at any fighter because he was always one punch away from changing the fight. I think that Tszyu would have had a solid chance at Mayweather, Tszyu was a world class boxer, he slipped punches just enough, countered perfectly. Mayweather has top notch D, but Tszyu got to everybody. His power was unheard of for 140 in his prime, fighters trained with middleweights to deal with his power and were still KO'd by him. Tszyu would have hurt Mayweather, probably had a shot at winning a decision if he could land early.

Remember this Tsyzu got to everyone, he hurt anyone he touched, why would Mayweather be any different? He ruined fighters. Mayweather would look good, but I think Tszyu would catch him. He had a whole arsenal of weapons, uppercut, hooks, jab, and a nasty straight right. Mayweather is an amazing fighter I take nothing away, but Tszyu was a great all around fighter with wicked power. He worked both the body and the head. He was an amazing finisher. Mayweather has all the skills to beat Tszyu, but I feel with Tszyu's power and boxing tools he could beat Mayweather.

[Rafael Benitez]

He was the first to make it from the eastern bloc, in a culture where pro boxing never existed. He deserves credit as he never probably had it as a goal until the soviet union came down. Also, he upset a better boxer in Judah in emphatic style and POWER. He is a great for the boundaries that he broke down.

[Left Hook Tua]

Anyone else think maybe that Tszyu fight took something from Hatton, he got wobbled a bit easier after that fight. Tszyu it Hatton hard on the chin and Hatton handled it, I was very impressed.

Tszyu was a fighter that had a chance at any fighter because he was always one punch away from changing the fight. I think that Tszyu would have had a solid chance at Mayweather, Tszyu was a world class boxer, he slipped punches just enough, countered perfectly. Mayweather has top notch D, but Tszyu got to everybody. His power was unheard of for 140 in his prime, fighters trained with middleweights to deal with his power and were still KO'd by him. Tszyu would have hurt Mayweather, probably had a shot at winning a decision if he could land early.

Remember this Tsyzu got to everyone, he hurt anyone he touched, why would Mayweather be any different? He ruined fighters. Mayweather would look good, but I think Tszyu would catch him. He had a whole arsenal of weapons, uppercut, hooks, jab, and a nasty straight right. Mayweather is an amazing fighter I take nothing away, but Tszyu was a great all around fighter with wicked power. He worked both the body and the head. He was an amazing finisher. Mayweather has all the skills to beat Tszyu, but I feel with Tszyu's power and boxing tools he could beat Mayweather.

i wouldn't doubt it.

people keep forgetting kostya was 35-36 when he fought hatton!

he lost but he was still competitive and look at hatton's face after the fight.

kostya didn't do too bad for an old man. ricky was just too young , too strong and too hungry to lose to tszyu that night.

people talk crap about how tszyu retired but seeing the fight not a bad way for a 35 yr. old man to go out. he fought , he fought tough , he lost , time to pass the torch. he did it classy too.

[the_godslayer]

Anyone else think maybe that Tszyu fight took something from Hatton, he got wobbled a bit easier after that fight. Tszyu it Hatton hard on the chin and Hatton handled it, I was very impressed.

Tszyu was a fighter that had a chance at any fighter because he was always one punch away from changing the fight. I think that Tszyu would have had a solid chance at Mayweather, Tszyu was a world class boxer, he slipped punches just enough, countered perfectly. Mayweather has top notch D, but Tszyu got to everybody. His power was unheard of for 140 in his prime, fighters trained with middleweights to deal with his power and were still KO'd by him. Tszyu would have hurt Mayweather, probably had a shot at winning a decision if he could land early.

Remember this Tsyzu got to everyone, he hurt anyone he touched, why would Mayweather be any different? He ruined fighters. Mayweather would look good, but I think Tszyu would catch him. He had a whole arsenal of weapons, uppercut, hooks, jab, and a nasty straight right. Mayweather is an amazing fighter I take nothing away, but Tszyu was a great all around fighter with wicked power. He worked both the body and the head. He was an amazing finisher. Mayweather has all the skills to beat Tszyu, but I feel with Tszyu's power and boxing tools he could beat Mayweather.

This is one of the most succint posts about the subject i have read to ate, well said that man. I have heard nobody else say that the fight took something from Hatton and IMO it quite obviously did, that was his pinnacle and despite being young enough to have gone on to bigger and better things it remains his pinnacle and crowning glory.

i wouldn't doubt it.

people keep forgetting kostya was 35-36 when he fought hatton!

he lost but he was still competitive and look at hatton's face after the fight.

kostya didn't do too bad for an old man. ricky was just too young , too strong and too hungry to lose to tszyu that night.

people talk crap about how tszyu retired but seeing the fight not a bad way for a 35 yr. old man to go out. he fought , he fought tough , he lost , time to pass the torch. he did it classy too.

Hatton actually broke down in tears at the end of the fight, maybe of relief, maybe of happiness, who knows but he was certainly overwhelmed by what he ha achieved in beating Tszyu.

[Left Hook Tua]

Hatton actually broke down in tears at the end of the fight, maybe of relief, maybe of happiness, who knows but he was certainly overwhelmed by what he ha achieved in beating Tszyu.

beating kostya at 140 at the time is like joan guzman beating manny pacquiao right now.

how can he not?

tough , tough fight and you're fighting an all time great for a championship.

people crap on ricky's resume but how many fighters can claim they have a win as great and as significant as that?

tszyu was the king at 140 and hadn't lost in what 8-9 years?!?!?!?!?

[BennyST]

Tszyu did have some problems against slick boxers.

Tszyu was actually the perfect fighter against slick boxers. He actually rarely ever had any trouble with them and nearly every slick fighter he fought he knocked out. I think the reason being he himself was a brilliant boxer with all the tools to become a classic, slick, defensive boxer-puncher, and that gave him the knowledge of how to fight them. Of course after the amateurs he changed his style dramatically and went with power as his main game in the pros. I recently saw someone say he couldn't even get R. Mayweather out of there. They must not have seen that fight. Mayweather ran the whole fight. It was obvious he wanted nothing more than to stay away from Tszyu's power and just finish as he did not exchange at all during the fight. He always beat boxers very convincingly.

I actually can't really remember him ever having had many problems against slick boxers as he always seemed at his best against them. None of the boxers he fought that were meant to beat him got even close really. He was brilliant against southpaws, knew exactly how to fight them and his timing neutralised the speed difference which often gave him the advantage against the faster, slicker boxer.

I don't know how a fight with Mayweather would go. I don't see either guy getting knocked out and I would probably lean towards Mayweather but I really do believe that Tszyu was at his best against the style that Mayweather would present which allows Tszyu to get set and throw his combinations perfectly and with exact timing and power. If he was able to get set he won and won well.

People do underrate him and he was certainly one of the best ever at 140. In the top five easily. Of course his only losses do hurt him as they were fights he should not have ever lost. The Hatton fight was understandable as he was 36 against a peak hungry fighter with stamina to burn, but, he still should have beaten him easy. While the ref screwed him over pretty bad he also fought the wrong fight for his age at that point. His Phillips loss hurt him greatly also which he never revenged. It should have been his first fight back as it should have been a very easy win for him. Again, due to bad, slack training at the time and forgetting about his boxing skills.

One thing that sometimes annoys me is people that claim he was only a power puncher. He was a very skilled boxer and I believe had he stayed fighting from Russia he may have become one of the ATG boxers of contemporary times. He changed the way he fought a lot when he went pro. As an amateur he had freaky skill. Amazing hand and foot speed, incredible defense, combinations, power and the ability to think through a fight.

He lost a fair bit of his speed and defense and became more of a power puncher but still had the ability to box when needed. He should have used it more and I wonder if coming to Aus had something to do with that. I think if he had stayed with his speed, defensive boxing style in the pro's he would have been unstoppable. As it was though he had an amazing career and yes, he is still very underrated. The fighters he fought from day one are simply incredible and very, very few pros would or could (or be willing) to do what he did.