The Greatness of Kostya Tszyu

[the_godslayer]

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?!?!?!?!?

All the haters just **** on that Tszyu was shot and over the hill at that point in his careers, they fail to remember his comeback fight against Sharma Mitchell when he destroyed him and Mitchell was being touted as the next big thing too.

[Left Hook Tua]

All the haters just **** on that Tszyu was shot and over the hill at that point in his careers, they fail to remember his comeback fight against Sharma Mitchell when he destroyed him and Mitchell was being touted as the next big thing too.

that's why i laugh when floyd guys say he didn't fight anybody.

ummm...... sharmba mitchell , ricky hatton , zab judah......

that's 3 of floyd's fights at 147.

kostya fought them when they were younger and at their natural weight.

when he fought sharmba , sharmba was a champ. he even beat sharmba the 2nd time around right before he fought ricky.

when he fought zab , zab was a champ and highly , highly rated.

obviously he lost to ricky but come on he was 36!!!

let's see how floyd does 5-6 years from now......

[Left Hook Tua]

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.

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 ought 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.

great , excellent post as always , mr. benny.

i try to tell everyone kostya was the perfect anti-slick boxer/anti-flashy boxer.

people forget how kostya has very few tomato cans on his resume.

he fought for a belt after his 13th fight and was fighting championship/contender level guys most of his career.

[BennyST]

so kostya wasn't **** because of how he ended his career on the stool?

so arguello must be **** because of how the pryor fight ended right?

morales must be a nobody because of how he just shook his head and didn't get up in the 3rd pacquiao fight?

so no matter what duran did in his career he was a bum for quitting in the leonard rematch?

i don't get you guys. don't get all mad because some people think he can beat your favorite fighter. it's just opinion.

....and don't forget that Chavez has to be the biggest ***** of all time. He quit twice against Hoya and was even younger than Tszyu at the time. He had also only gone half the fight! That seriously makes him the worst champion the world has ever seen.

You ****ing idiots. Anyone that thinks what he did was 'quitting' because he had no heart or whatever pathetic thing you think it means have no idea what 'heart' means. He had fought as a champion at the top of his division for a decade and had come back from injuries, brutal wars, knockdowns etc. Just getting to contender status takes more 'heart' and desire than any of you little men that whine about quitters as if it was the only thing they ever did, will have in your entire sad nothing lives. Anyone that gets internet tough about that stuff has never fought before. He was old, not answering his corner and done. There was nothing more he could give. I can't even begin to think what someone would have expected him to do?

[Left Hook Tua]

Kostya Tszyu vs. Roger Mayweather

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.

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 ought 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.

[the_godslayer]

that's why i laugh when floyd guys say he didn't fight anybody.

ummm...... sharmba mitchell , ricky hatton , zab judah......

that's 3 of floyd's fights at 147.

kostya fought them when they were younger and at their natural weight.

when he fought sharmba , sharmba was a champ. he even beat sharmba the 2nd time around right before he fought ricky.

when he fought zab , zab was a champ and highly , highly rated.

obviously he lost to ricky but come on he was 36!!!

let's see how floyd does at 5-6 years from now......

The memory of Judah on ***** street in that fight still makes me smile, but the memory of his disgusting reaction to Jay Nady stopping the fight reminds me why Judah is a prick tbh.

I saw Mitchell box live a couple of times and tbh although he was champ he never showed anything that i thought would trouble a truly elite fighter and it seems i was proved right.

Judah could have been an ATG if he adjusted his attitude and sorted his head out but at the time Tszyu did for him he also was being proclaimed as one of the greatest JWW's of all time!!

Everyone knows I am a Hatton fan but I honestly did not expect him to do what he did to Kostya Tszyu (that fight btw is the 1st my son who was 3 months old at the time, watched with me!!!) when he won I remember wondering what next for either of them.

In a way im glad Tszyu never fought again, his legacy was not damaged IMO by losing to Hatton when he did or in the manner he did.

[BennyST]

But just as he couldn't be 100% sure that he was behind, he also couldn't be 100% sure that he would be stopped.

I definitely see what you're saying. But, he was positive he was way behind and that he needed a KO to win. He knew what it meant to be fighting in Manchester. He could hardly lift his arms at that point let alone land the perfect punch to KO him. After it he said he thought he was way, way behind and had no way to win. He's also smart enough to know that there is a career after boxing and that he had four children that need a stable dad.

[Silencers]

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.

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 ought 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 thought Judah and Mitchell game his trouble, Judah got ****y and became a stationary target in the second round and got knocked out, Mitchell was giving Tszyu quite a lot of trouble before injuring his knee in the first fight, that's why there was such anticipation for the rematch but Mitchell was over the hill by that point.

I remember the Roger Mayweather fight, he was very scared of getting caught by Tszyu, I'd never seen him move that much in any fights I've seen him in and that's including his two fights with Chavez.

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.

I agree, he shouldn't have lost that Phillips fight at all, what bothers me is that he didn't even try to my knowledge to get a rematch with Phillips to avenge that loss, avenging that loss would have cleared any questions about that loss.

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.

He was definitely an underrated boxer, he changed his style to a more power oriented style when he went pro.

[BennyST]

Oscar had nothing left in the tank when he ran from Trinidad the last few rounds.

People look on Oscar's performance vs. Trinidad more favorably than they look on Tszyu's performance vs. Hatton.

It is just very uncharacteristic of a prizefighter (who seem to have an affinity of being wildly arrogant/egotistical) to quit when they might be giving up an already secured win.

He had a lot more than Tszyu at that point though. He was young and in his absolute prime and had basically dominated the fight to that point. He had enough left to move and jab. Tszyu could hardly lift his arms or get off the stool, was in the other guys backyard and was positive he was well and truly behind with no way to win.

[Ray*]

that's why i laugh when floyd guys say he didn't fight anybody.ummm...... sharmba mitchell , ricky hatton , zab judah......

that's 3 of floyd's fights at 147.

kostya fought them when they were younger and at their natural weight.

when he fought sharmba , sharmba was a champ. he even beat sharmba the 2nd time around right before he fought ricky.

when he fought zab , zab was a champ and highly , highly rated.

obviously he lost to ricky but come on he was 36!!!

let's see how floyd does 5-6 years from now......

Why is it alway "floyd guys" that gets accused of everything? dont you think this same "Floyd guys" would try to big up Hatton so Mayweather's resume would look better because of Hatton?

Cant it be the "Margarito or Cotto guys" that are trying to discredit Hatton so Mayweather's victory over hatton doesnt look too impressive?